OxfordPress.com

The celebration began before dawn Wednesday, March 12.

At 5 a.m., the campers in IKEA West Chester's loading zone packed their tents, blankets and portable heaters into their cars, then crowded into a rope-lined corral staffed by yellow-shirted security guards and IKEA employees pushing carts of complimentary coffee and cocoa. The first 100, many of whom had been on site since Monday, packed close to the front door, holding on to the promise of a free Poang armchair. Later arrivals coiled into a zigzag line that wrapped past a stage where Team Cincinnati from "Clash of the Choirs" performed, and over a curb where Cincinnati Reds and Bengals mascots worked the crowd for laughs. The line even curved around the side of the massive blue-and-yellow building illuminated by lamp posts and the lights from hundreds of incoming cars.

These were the first of an estimated 10,000 daily shoppers anticipated at IKEA West Chester over the coming weekend. The 344,000 square-foot store is IKEA's 34th in the U.S., and many visitors said they were thrilled to be part of the opening day spectacle.

"This is like the second coming," said West Chester Twp. trustee Lee Wong as he watched hundreds of store employees rattle "thunder stick" balloons for the shoppers who entered the store already loaded down with bags of IKEA-themed giveaways.

But despite IKEA's monolithic size of 274 stores worldwide, at least one visitor saw the store as a welcome sight from home.

"I just moved to Ohio," said Sweden native and Dayton resident Helene Johansson-Hill, "so I am just so excited that there's going to be a Swedish store here in Ohio now."

Staff writer Eric Schwartzberg contributed to this report.

HOW TO GO

What: IKEA West Chester

Where: 9500 IKEA Way, West Chester Twp.

When: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily, closed Thanksgiving and Christmas

More info: (513) 779-7100; www.pulsejournal.com/ikea