Ikea may change more than home decor in Brooklyn

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A day before New York City's first Ikea store opens its doors, some people camped out for free sofas while others bemoaned an end of an era in a Brooklyn neighborhood that artists and blue-collar workers call home.

While even the most grudging New Yorkers said the popular Swedish furniture store could reduce unemployment and attract new businesses to the storied waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook, they also worried about everything from traffic to aesthetics.

"It's the proverbial double-edged sword," said building contractor Phil Forbes, who says he has lived in Red Hook for 28 years and owns his own home a few blocks from the store.

"It raises the value of the property. People will want to open businesses here," he said.

Yet he worried about more traffic, which had already become swollen after a Fairway supermarket opened along with a passenger boat terminal in recent years.

While Fairway blended in by converting an old brick coffee warehouse, Ikea kept true to its own-brand colors with a bright blue and yellow store that stands out among brick warehouses.

"It's a horrible thing," Forbes said.

Red Hook, with views of the Statue of Liberty, is no stranger to commerce since Atlantic Dock Co. built piers in the 1840s, creating a shipping port.

First settled in 1636, according to a "Neighborhoods of Brooklyn" guide book, Red Hook has faced its share of crime and unemployment partly as a result of being cut off by a busy expressway from other more prosperous neighborhoods.

But the neighborhood where Al Capone is said to have started out in crime, and was the setting for Arthur Miller's play "A View From the Bridge,' has enjoyed a marked resurgence in recent years.

Restaurants and stores followed artists, which began moving there in the 1970s, attracted by cheap housing.

Now a dry dock, used for repairing ships, has been replaced by Ikea and a car park for the thousands of shoppers it expects each day, with numbers expected to swell further at weekends.

A day before the opening, about 30 people waited outside -- some with tents and folding chairs -- hoping to claim one of 35 $400 sofas Ikea promised to give away. Some planned to give the sofa as gifts, while others just needed somewhere to sit.

"It's just a matter of economics," said Kirk Stevenson, 46, who sells bath and body products and hopes to save money as his family moves from Brooklyn to New Jersey.

Nicole Pearsall, 38, an administrative assistant at the Red Hook Community Justice Center, wanted a new sofa as she had thrown out her old one. Pearsall said new Ikea jobs and outside attention could help reduce crime in Red Hook.

Joe Ficarra, part owner of Annabelle's bar across the street from Ikea said he was unsure if it will be good news, saying: "I know people are concerned that pretty soon there'll be a Starbucks on every corner."

(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Philip Barbara)