Thirty years ago, shoppers were about to undergo a further transformation in the Tyneside retail experience.
Setting up shop not far from the sprawling malls of the Metrocentre, which had begun trading in 1986, the Scandinavian home furnishing giant IKEA threw open the doors of its huge new store in Swalwell, Gateshead, on July 2, 1992. The company could trace its origins back to Sweden in the late 1940s, but this was the brand's first store in our region, and only the fourth in the UK. The first had opened in Warrington, Cheshire, in 1987, followed quickly by one in Brent, London, and another in Birmingham.
Today the Gateshead store is one of 22 nationwide and a reported 378 operating worldwide. Countless thousands of us have flocked there over the last three decades to buy home furnishings and maybe even tuck into some Swedish meatballs, one of the favourites at its restaurant. And what of its flatpack furniture items? Some of its most popular all-time products include the Billy bookcase, the Poang chair, the Malm bed, the Kallax shelf unit, and the Lack side table.
