The first piece of the new IKEA store in Mons was put in place on Tuesday. The project is unique in Belgium for the IKEA group, with the store going into an already existing shopping centre, the “Grand Prés”. The new store will also have a business park. The first stone of the new IKEA was put in place in front of IKEA managers and local Mons politicians. The second phase of the work on the new store started after the first phase was completed (preparation of the ground and car park), and the construction of a temporary car park.
This second phase involves the construction of the actual store, and a three tier 1,500 space car park. The building work is expected to last eight months. The 35,000 square metre store should open at the end of 2015. A new business park with businesses that complement IKEA should open in the middle of May 2016. In total, 80 million euros will be invested in the Mons site by IKEA. It is currently the group’s biggest project in Wallonia. Thanks to the new Mons store, 350 partners will be employed, and 50 indirect jobs will be generated. The IKEA group hopes to attract 2 million visitors to its Mons store every year.
(Source: Belga)
