Chaotic scenes took place in all of Ikea‘s Belgian stores this morning. This was prompted by the launch of the new Markerad collection, designed by Virgil Abloh, the artistic director for Louis Vuitton.
Camping out
Long queues of people were waiting at the entrance before the store opened; some had even spent the night there to be able to lay their hands on items from the new collection. In Zaventem (near Brussels), people were allowed to enter in groups of ten, with each customer being allowed to buy a maximum of ten items from the new collection. “I bought everything I wanted“, Alexandre, one of those waiting, told local newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. “The total amount spent? 600 euros. But I definitely do not mind. Virgil Abloh is an absolute trendsetter. Earlier on, I camped out for the shoes he designed.”
Less than an hour after opening, most of the items in the new collection were already sold out. Some items have already been offered for a much higher price on second-hand sites. “Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about that”, Ikea said. “Once the items have been sold, they are no longer our property and customers can do what they want with them. We do regret that people are putting our stuff online right after they have purchased it, but we can not take action against this.”
