The doors of the new Ikea superstore in Red Hook are closed until tomorrow at 9 a.m., but that did not stop a handful of anxious New Yorkers from setting up makeshift camps outside yesterday, a full 48 hours before the grand opening.

The Swedish retailer is offering its first 35 customers a free three-seat “Ektorp” series sofa, which usually costs $399, and the prospect of free furniture has brought out a wide range of characters.

A father-daughter duo, Jay and Brandis Sanchez, dressed up as gift-wrapped boxes four years ago in conjunction with a Christmas promotion at the Ikea in Paramus, N.J. They came to Red Hook on Sunday night fully equipped with camping gear and a hibachi as part of what they called “an extended Father’s Day concrete camping experience.”

In addition to free couches, Ikea officials said the store will give away 100 folding chairs and 2,500 gift cards as part of its grand opening.

“I think God would be okay with this,” a 24-year-old graduate student, Hardik Paten, said as he awoke from a nap underneath the awning of the store’s main entrance. “You wait a few days, and then you get something for it. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

A 26-year-old who said she is between jobs, Laura Sandoval, said more people were in line early yesterday morning but left after learning they could not allow others to wait for them if they had to work or take care of a child.

Ikea officials are allowing customers to leave for only 10 minutes at a time; if they are late, they risk losing their spot in line. Ms. Sandoval was the third to arrive and quickly put together her tent in anticipation of the long nights ahead.

“I don’t know what the people without tents are going to do,” she said. “You can’t sleep sitting.”

A private art dealer, Adam Robb, 29, said he was Web-logging, live, his experience waiting in line. He brought along a Scrabble board and a friend, Vanessa Richardson, 30, to keep occupied between posts.