Ikea’s first New Zealand store in Auckland attracted more than 140,000 people during its opening week, with shoppers coming from as far away as Canterbury and Otago.

The number of shoppers coming to the Sylvia Park shopping precinct, where the new Ikea store is located, rose significantly during the December 4 to 11 period, RNZ reported, citing transaction data from Dot Loves Data.

According to the statistics, home and furniture shoppers in the Sylvia Park area coming from Auckland increased 1400 per cent, while those coming from Waikato soared 1200 per cent.

Noticeably, about 238 shoppers from Canterbury and 270 from Wellington visited the area during the week, up 7833 per cent and 3275 per cent respectively. Some 93 customers arrived from Otago and 250 from Northland.

“These figures show how nationally significant the Ikea opening has been,” Justin Lester, director of Dot Loves Data, told RNZ. “What was interesting to us was that people were willing to travel from all over the country… clearly they’re going for the opening. Particularly from the Bay of Plenty, Waikato visitation, but as far afield as Otago, Canterbury, and Wellington as well.

“This level of visitation from around the country is unprecedented for a suburban retail precinct. Ikea has instantly become a key economic drawcard, not just for the Sylvia Park/Mt Wellington precinct, but for Auckland more broadly.”

Lester expects patterns to stabilise over time and that other retailers in the area may eventually benefit from the broader uplift in visitation.

According to 1News, Ikea’s Frakta blue carrier bag was the most purchased item during the opening week. The Tackan white soap dispenser was the store’s top-selling furniture item.

Other popular picks included the Kallx shelving unit, Lack side table, and the Grejig shoe rack in red and grey.