IKEA's Canberra store is expecting more than 15,000 people on opening day in less than two weeks.
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The company is telling those planning to turn up on the first day of trading to car pool or catch public transport to reduce the pressure of finding a place to park.
On Tuesday the inside of the soon-to-be opened store bustled with 400 workers.
About 250 were Canberra-based staff for the company, some of whom had only been employed by IKEA in recent weeks.
There were another 100 IKEA staff from stores elsewhere plus an estimated 50 contractors.
Those setting up the massive store walk an average of 20 kilometres a day – the line customers will follow through the store is one kilometre long if they do not deviate.
Entire show rooms have been completed and the staff were eating in shifts at the restaurant.
Store manager Mark Mitchinson, 35, said he and other staff had spent 18 months preparing for opening day but recent months had been even more intense for him.
He now had a 15-week-old daughter added to his family, which included wife Hayley and a two-year-old son.
"Worry is a wasted emotion," said Mr Mitchinson, talking about the upcoming opening.
His team visited more than 100 homes in Canberra to find out how the ACT market differed from other locations.
"Canberrans are really house proud," he said.
The kitchens in the Canberra IKEA will be bigger than in other IKEA stores because of what was discovered during the fact-finding missions.
He said more space in Canberra meant the kitchens were bigger.
The IKEA teams also found out that Canberrans tended to play games in their living rooms, perhaps because of the colder weather, and this would be reflected at the Canberra store as well.
Staff have been told to expect more quick visits in lunch breaks to this store compared to other IKEA bases.
This was because it only took 20 minutes for anyone in the ACT to reach Majura Park.
Mr Mitchinson said "well over" one million visitors to the store were expected in the first year.
There will be 11,200 square metres of combined furniture showroom and market hall space and more than 8500 products.
IKEA's building in Canberra was made to withstand local conditions as well.
The walls are thicker, to add insulation, and the light streaming through the many windows helps make it the most sustainable IKEA building in Australia.
"It becomes very real now," Mr Mitchinson said.
"We turned on the ice-cream machine the other day."
The store opens November 16.
