The wait has been long, but there is no harm that does not come for good and at last IKEA is about to open its doors in the capital of Almería. Gone are the years when it was difficult to find big commercial names in the province beyond the small shops that could be found on the Paseo de Almería or in the, at that time unique, Mediterráneo Shopping Center. The starting signal was given by El Corte Inglés disembarking in the town of El Ejido back in 2003. A lot has rained since then (although less than we would like in the province) and with some missteps, IKEA is finally in the completion phase of the works and with expectations of opening to the public in the next 5th of July.
The opening of IKEA demonstrates several things: on the one hand, the strength of the province of Almería, in constant demographic growth (740,534 people according to INE data as of January 1, 2022) and economic (the highest GDP per capital of the autonomous community from Andalusia ); and on the other, the fact that Almería is becoming “pretty” in the eyes of investors and companies, even more so with the upcoming arrival of the AVE to the city of Almería (with a stop in Vera) which will substantially improve the media deficit transportation with the rest of the peninsula due to its underused international airport and its current non-existent rail network.
Not only the residents of the city of Almería are in luck. The entire province in general is celebrating as regular users of this brand had to make, until now, long journeys to be able to enjoy the wide range of products that the Swedish house of household items and furniture offers in its large-format stores. The inhabitants of eastern Almería were used to having to travel more than 150 km to the city of Murcia and, not to mention the residents of the capital or the west who had to drive the 200 kilometers that separate them from Malaga.
IKEA finally lands in the province to the delight of the people of Almería who see, at the same time, how their city is getting bigger and already competing head-to-head with larger cities in terms of service offerings.
