A false fire alarm prompted San Francisco’s New Ikea store to evacuate the premises during its grand opening Wednesday—just a day after staff mistakenly filed a false robbery report to police.
Arda Akalin, manager at the new store, said an issue with the smoke detectors prompted the store’s fire doors to shut and forced an evacuation of the building until San Francisco fire officials cleared the store for reentry.
“There wasn’t any smoke,” he said. “It was an issue with the smoke detectors.”
Hundreds of customers waited approximately 30 minutes outside of the store’s front entrance, according to customer James Wong, who stopped by for the grand opening.
“I was in the deli area waiting in line,” Wong said. “They eventually told us it was a false alarm.”
Wong said he was led out of the deli area by a worker down a staircase before being escorted to the front of the store.
“It was somewhat organized,” he said.
🔥 IKEA evacuated during shopping hours. Fire in the building. Lot of drama happening during grand opening at IKEA San Francisco @abc7newsbayarea pic.twitter.com/q49olGl7lj
— Old Fashioned SF (@powellmarket415) August 23, 2023
The opening of Ikea in San Francisco has been hyped as a shot in the arm for San Francisco’s struggling Downtown.
The store opened to the general public on Wednesday morning after holding several soft openings and press events for invited guests in the days leading up to the main event.