IKEA Edinburgh: Hundreds queue up as furnishings chain reopens

IKEA at Straiton, Edinburgh opens tot he public for the first time since lockdown. Around 300 people queued with the first arriving at 6:30am. June 22 2020

The first shoppers in Edinburgh began queuing as early as 6:30am with around 300 eager people at the Swedish homeware store in Straiton waiting to buy flatpacked furniture and frozen meatballs.

The shop has a capacity of just 450 people which is a quarter of how many shoppers it can normally accommodate without social distancing measures.Metal barriers and yellow dots showed people where to queue while maintaining social distancing, and some shoppers wore face masks in preparation for browsing.

Stewards in high-vis yellow jackets were on hand to make sure people obeyed the rules.

Shops down south opened on June 1.