Ikea's opening day in Winnipeg will be Nov. 28.
The big blue and yellow building near Sterling Lyon Parkway and Kenaston Boulevard has been under construction since late 2011.
Store manager Stephen Bobko also gave media a tour on Wednesday of the Swedish furniture retailer's 390,000-square-foot building, which will have 40 checkouts, 55 showrooms, a 650-seat restaurant — one of the largest in Canada, with the largest kids' playground of any Ikea location — and revolving doors, which will a first among Ikea stores in Canada.
"It is a 1.3-kilometre walk from our front door to our checkouts, so I think … that's huge," Bobko said.
The store's warehouse will also be Ikea's largest in Canada, so that customers can go home with their purchased furniture on the same day, he added.
About 3,000 people have applied to work at the Winnipeg store, and Bobko said 300 will be hired.
Ikea will be an anchor tenant in a massive big-box development, called Seasons of Tuxedo, that will turn about 80 hectares of industrial land into the largest development the city has seen in 25 years.
It calls for 1.5 million square feet of commercial and residential development, including restaurants, grocery stores and the possibility of a 100-room hotel, 500-unit condo building and 16-screen movie theatre.
Work on the entire big-box development is expected to take about 12 years to complete and will be done in stages, starting with the Ikea property.