There have been many bizarre photos of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness since Northern Ireland's political "odd couple" came together at the head of the Stormont power-sharing government.

But of all these moments, few have been quite as surreal as the sight of Ulster's one-time arch-enemies grinning inanely together on a bright red Ikea sofa in front of the slogan, "Home is the most important place in the world".

It is surely a measure of how far Northern Ireland has travelled that the opening of the first Ikea store on the island of Ireland — and the largest in the UK — led to a queue of barely 500 people outside its doors.

Despite predictions of up to 10,000 shoppers, by 10am only a steady trickle was entering the shop in the Holywood exchange complex on the outskirts of east Belfast. Police and security guards, who had feared a repeat of the scuffles that left 20 people injured at the opening of a new Ikea store in Edmonton, North London, in 2005, looked almost embarrassed to be there.

Giant marquees erected as shelters for those queueing stood empty. The expected traffic chaos along the road past George Best Belfast City Airport failed to materialise; if anything, the road was quieter than usual.

Not so long ago the opening of an Ikea outlet in Belfast would have guaranteed a stampede, bringing to an end as it does the long-established tradition, particularly among young first-time home owners, of taking the ferry across the Irish Sea and filling up the car at Ikea's stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

But in a province where designer shops and new restaurants are opening on a regular basis, and where barely a week passes without another eulogy to the "new Belfast" in newspaper travel pages, such an event is no longer out of the ordinary.

Mr McGuinness, Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, declared that the opening of the 29,000 sq ft store — the size of 5 football pitches — was “a tremendous vote of confidence for everything that has been happening here”.

He said: “Ikea is a world-renowned company so it is a vote of confidence for all that has happened and a very clear sign for other companies in the US and Europe that we are open for business.”

Mr Paisley, the First Minister, added: “It is good for all of us that they have come and it is very refreshing for the people of Northern Ireland.”

First in the queue were Gareth and Amanda Stewart, who drove up from their home in Kinallen, Co Down and slept in a van overnight.

Mr Stewart said: “We got here at 11.30pm and got up and into the queue at 5am. We're looking for living room furniture to finish off doing up our home.”

Mrs Stewart was presented with a huge bouquet of flowers — in traditional Ikea blue and yellow — as they headed into the store to be deluged by a mass of ticker tape thrown by the 400 cheering staff.

Declaring the store open after sawing through a log with Paul Reid, the outlet's manager, in a traditional Swedish ceremony, Jim Rodgers, Belfast's Lord Mayor, said: “Today is a momentous day not only for Belfast but for all of Northern Ireland and I am delighted to welcome Ikea to the province. Ikea is a global brand and the fact they are willing to invest in Belfast says much about the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland over recent years.”

As well as selling Ikea's full range of 9,500 items, the store boasts 50 fully furnished showrooms and Northern Ireland's largest restaurant — with 565 seats on the first floor overlooking the runway of the airport.

Referring to his home town in Co Antrim, Mr Paisley joked: “This store is going to make it easier for a Ballymena man to buy cheap. It's got the best possible goods for the lowest possible price — that is what this is all about.”

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