“Can I sit on it?” asked a woman in her late 60s, half a question, half a request, pointing towards the sample bed at the newly opened IKEA store at DLF Avenue, Saket, on Thursday.The IKEA salesperson replied without missing a beat, “Of course, ma’am. This is a hands-on store. You can try it out without any problems.”She sat. She bounced, just a little. And something in her shoulders relaxed — the particular relief of a person who has just confirmed a thing is as good as it looks.The newly opened store can be accessed from the first floor of the mall, where it is beside the Cinepolis theatre while the main entrance of the store is opposite to the South entrance of the mall.This is India’s fourth and Delhi’s second city format store, tucked into 30,000 square feet across two floors, a short drive from Saket’s cluster of gated colonies, builder floors and PGs.The ground floor has multiple utilities including cookware, textiles, rugs, pillows, bed covers, organisers, lighting, the bed-and-bath shop, small furniture and billing. The customers at the IKEA store, which opened its new outlet today at DLF Saket, at New Delhi on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Express photo by Abhinav SahaOn the first floor, that can be accessed through an in-store staircase, is the sample living rooms, storage, workspaces, dining sets, kitchens, study room, bedrooms, wardrobes, a children’s section, and tucked at the far end, smelling faintly of cinnamon and grilled meat the Swedish Cafe.Story continues below this adWhy Saket?The choice of Saket as the location for the store wasn’t incidental. “What makes each store unique is how it reflects the everyday life, needs and dreams of the many people in that neighbourhood,” Adosh Sharma, IKEA India’s Country Commercial Manager, said of the decision.South Delhi, in his account, is a patchwork of “independent houses and builder floors to contemporary apartments” where people invest in their homes slowly, over years, rather than gutting and redoing them all at once.He noted that furniture “remains an important part of everyday living,” which is why the store leans so heavily into flexible storage and furniture that can be reconfigured without a full renovation.IKEA’s first store in Delhi opened in Pacific Mall last year, a far more compact 15,000 sq ft footprint that had around 800 items available for immediate takeaway at the time of its opening.Story continues below this adSaket, at double the size, is home to nearly 3,000 products in-store, and over 7,000 available online, and noticeably more breathing room between the room sets.What shoppers sayShoppers who’d been to both agreed. “This is bigger,” said Nitika Grover, 38, a legal recruiter visiting with her friend Kanika Kaur, 34, both from the neighboring locality of Greater Kailash.Last year, the duo visited the West Delhi store during its opening week, but due to the distance they’ve only visited the store twice.“We are regular buyers from the online store,” says Kanika. “There is a variety in terms of the availability of items and they are of really good quality,” adds Nitika. The opening of this new shop has now made their shopping conundrum easier.Story continues below this adOthers came simply for the spectacle of a building they’d watched go up.21-year-olds Shamli and Kriti, who are students and residents of South Delhi, found out about the store’s opening through Instagram videos and posters at the mall.They admitted that there’d been “hype” for months. Both of them had come to see whether certain items at the store that they’d seen shoppers post online lived up to the hype — a set of cloud-shaped lights, mainly.“What I really liked about the shop is that they have sections for buying things (the ground floor) and the floor above is to show how these can be used. They have shown the functionality of these objects, that one would have otherwise purchased on impulse, and would not have known what to do with it. This has really enhanced my buying experience,” explains Shamli.Story continues below this adVima Kalra, 62, for her part, had travelled 40 minutes from Faridabad after her daughter-in-law had tipped her about the shop’s opening.She had basketed containers and smaller organisers. “There are many options,” she said, “and the quality is also good.” When asked about the price, she was candid: “We might get it for this price outside too, but I felt the quality here is a bit better.”Upstairs, the bathroom section draws its own quiet crowd — soft-close taps, slim under-sink units, and a run of tiny walled-in mock bathrooms that let you stand inside a shower fitting before you buy it, an oddly satisfying trick for something so mundane.And then, of course, the Swedish cafe. It’s bigger in space than the one at Pacific Mall. The window faces the mall’s entrance on the South side, where a fleet of yellow autorickshaws are making their stop.Story continues below this adThe seating arrangement is that of proper cafe style, with two white chairs and a white round table. The highlight in the menu is the Swedish meat ball served with Swedish cream sauce and lingonberry jam. The lingonberry cheesecake is also worth returning for.By evening, people were still walking in to explore the new store — opening wardrobe doors just to hear them close, sitting on beds they had no immediate plans to buy.Dressed in a red dress, with her hair open, a 4-year-old girl drags the yellow handbasket trolley. She tries to navigate through the space, as her father watches on. There is enough room for her to find her path.“India is a priority market for IKEA globally, and we are committed to growing our presence in a way that brings us closer to the many people,” Sharma said, pointing to full-size stores already in the works in Gurgaon and Noida over the next couple of years.Story continues below this ad“As we grow, our focus remains the same — to offer affordable, well-designed home furnishing solutions that create a better everyday life at home for the many people in India.”