The biggest Ikea store in the Gulf will open in Bahrain in the second quarter of 2018, it was revealed at the ground-breaking ceremony of the project in late October.

Located in Salmabad, the BD47 million store will have a total retail area of 37,000 sq m ($124.76 million), said Saud Ghassan Al Sulaiman, the chief executive officer of Ikea Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The store is being opened in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Ghassan Ahmed Al Sulaiman Furniture Trading Company, Ikea Saudi Arabia.

Construction work is under way and the main contractor is G P Zachariades.

Ikea Bahrain will house a 6,200-sq-m showroom, a 6,000-sq-m market hall for accessories, 5,000 sq m of self-serve area, and 4,000 sq m of full serve area. It will also have an 800-seat restaurant, a 220-sq-m play facility for children supervised by Ikea staff free of charge, and over 1,100 parking spaces spread over two levels.