IKEA’S multi-million pound Southampton city centre store is to open its doors for the first time on Thursday, February 12, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Thousands of shoppers from across the south are predicted to flock to the opening of the Swedish home furnishing giant’s 18th UK store.

The new 900-space multi-storey car park is expected to be completely full hours before the 10am opening with shoppers keen to be the first through the door.

Police will be on patrol to control the crowds, while plans are being drawn up to deal with congestion along West Quay Road.

Despite the predicted traffic chaos, city council deputy leader Royston Smith said the opening could not have come at a better time for Southampton.

The Cabinet member for economic development said: “In these dire economic times it’s a real boost to have a store like IKEA opening, creating hundreds of local jobs for local people and giving retailers a bit of a lift.

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“IKEA is a real draw, its catchment area is going to be huge and people will travel an hour or more to visit, so I think we are going to see a significant boost in retail in Southampton.”

“The roads are going to potentially be busier than they have been in the past, but in these uncertain economic times anything that will increase and improve retail has got to be good for Southampton.”

Top level meetings between IKEA, city council bosses and the police are taking place to ensure there is no repeat of the frightening scenes that occurred at the opening of its north London store in 2005.

IKEA was forced to close its new store there after just 30 minutes when a riot erupted after the shop opened at midnight with offers promising cutprice bargains for the first shoppers through the doors.

IKEA said it had gone to extensive lengths to ensure that any increased volume of traffic would have little impact on the city.

Store manager Allesandra Taffe said: “We have adapted the road layout slightly so that the flow of traffic into the store is eased and our car park is situated at the top of the fourstorey store which means we can have the capacity for a lot more cars queuing within our confines and not on the road.”

A major test of the city’s roads will come on Saturday, February 21 when the Saints host Preston at St Mary’s and Cinderella on Ice appears at The Mayflower.

Special opening day offers include coffee tables for £3.99 and bookcases at £20, while all children wearing yellow and blue will also receive a surprise gift.

The four-floor store, one of the biggest in the country with 34,000 square metres of floor space, has created 500 new jobs.

The iconic blue building will stock 9,200 different products and boast a 600-seat restaurant, bistro, cafe and Swedish Food Market.

Due to the global financial crisis it will also be the last IKEA to open in the UK for some time, with all other future sites put on hold.

To coincide with the opening, WestQuay will be permanently extending its opening hours to 8pm every weeknight and 7pm every Saturday from Monday, February 2.