The opening ceremony was attended by Guest-of-Honour, Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, Ambassador of Sweden Pär Ahlberger and Hans-Göran Stennert, Chairman of INGKA Holding B.V. and IKANO Pte Ltd. A traditional Swedish log sawing opening ceremony was conducted by both Minister Mah and Mr Hans-Göran. The new IKEA store at IKEA Tampines currently has 400 workers in its employment and features 6,500 home furnishings all under one roof. Their famous restaurant now houses 550 seats with a supervised play area made specially for children and 1,200 parking lots to complement the existing IKEA store located at Alexandra. The opening of the new store also serves in redistributing the visitors and easing the pressure on the current Alexandra store, which during peak hours, operates beyond its capacity. With the opening of IKEA Tampines, there will be a total of 249 IKEA stores in 34 countries. “I certainly welcome the presence of the new Ikea store,” says Pär Ahlberger, Ambassador of Sweden, “IKEA’s name is vital to helping promote IKEA is well-known for its simple, successful but cot-effective concept that allows customers to choose, transport and assemble their purchases without comprising the quality, design or function of the product.