WOODBRIDGE, Va. — A suspicious package at IKEA Tuesday morning prompted customers to go elsewhere, and it led to a free lunch for employees.
A clothes hamper was found in the 2-story furniture store at Potomac Mills mall about 9:30 a.m. The store called police who spent the better portion of the next two hours investigating the hamper, which turned out to be harmless.
The store was evacuated by 10 a.m., and store employees were sent to the nearby mall food court where their bosses purchased them lunch.
About 50 people standing outside the store when reopened at 12:20 p.m. were given chocolate bars. Those who were eating breakfast inside IKEA’s restaurant at the time of the evacuation will be given refunds.
“We check our building multiple times per day with our security teams, and we just did this as a precaution for our customers and employees,” said store manager Jacqueline DeChamps.
Some customers waited patiently stood outside and waited two hours for the store to reopen, so they could get back-to-school gear.
“I’m not coming back to IKEA on any other day,” said Mary Berka, whose daughter is getting ready for college at Hoffstra University in Long Island.
“We’re here for bean bags,” added her 11-year-old son, Ethan.
[imagebrowser id=134 template=”custom”]
