Over a hundred people lined up at the San Mar Plaza in San Marcos to watch IKEA open its "dörrar" — or "doors" in Swedish — on Wednesday morning.
Juan Lerma was among the first in line. He said he was on a mission to get a new desk and some IKEA meatballs.
"I've been here since literally last night at 11 p.m.," he said. "I was in my car for a good amount of time, and I just brought like a little lawn chair."
At the opening ceremony, IKEA employees acknowledged the recent floods across Central Texas and announced the store would be donating $75,000 to the nonprofit Good360 to help address the needs of flood survivors.
Page Michel, president of the San Marcos Area Chamber of Commerce, said at the opening that this new store will serve the area's growing student population.
"You're bringing jobs, economic momentum and one more reason for people to come discover San Marcos and fall in love with this city," she said.
The 35,000-square-foot facility is IKEA's first "small city store" in Texas and will serve people along I-35 in the Austin-San Antonio corridor.
"The opening of IKEA San Marcos exemplifies our strategy of developing smaller, more accessible urban store formats," Javier Quiñones, CEO and chief sustainability officer of IKEA U.S., said in a press release.
The nearby facility in Round Rock, north of Austin, spans 306,000 square feet, and the one in Live Oak, in the San Antonio area, is 289,000 square feet.
"No more trekking through that notorious I-35 traffic — now you can enjoy IKEA and our inspiring home design with less hassle," Keena Garcia, market manager of IKEA U.S., said in the press release.
