Amidst the retailing frenzy that is Christmas, the island of Ireland's first ever IKEA store - at Holywood Exchange near east Belfast - is due to add further to the spending tumult later this week – but creating hundreds of jobs as a result.

The stage is set for Belfast Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers to chop the inaugural Swedish Log - an IKEA tradition - to declare the flagship store open at 10am on Thursday.

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A company spokeswoman said: "The Belfast store has the largest selling space that any other in the UK, and we expect a busy, busy pre-Christmas period."

The statistics are mind-boggling; a building that covers 29,000 square metres - equivalent to six football pitches - with 50 showrooms, a market hall, warehouse, 565-seat restaurant, crèche and ancillary services.

"There are 1,600 car parking spaces - 2,000 during the opening period - and we sell a range of almost 10,000 items. It's quite a store," said the spokeswoman.

"We will employ 400 people, full-time and part-time," she said.

IKEA has been in talks with Roads Services and PSNI in a bid to prevent traffic snarl-ups, especially in the initial period.

(BMcC)