Ikea confirms plans to open Charlotte, N.C., store in '09
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, February 5, 2007
Charlotte, N.C. — Ikea confirmed last week that it will build its first North Carolina store here, a 345,000-square-foot unit that will further its penetration into the Southeast.
Construction on the store near the juncture of Interstate 85 and City Boulevard is expected to begin in the summer of 2008. The Sweden-based home furnishings giant expects to open the unit in spring 2009.
The store will follow the same format as the most recent Ikea showrooms, with nearly 10,000 items, three model homes, 50 room settings, a supervised play area and a 300-seat restaurant serving Swedish meatballs and other Swedish specialties in addition to American fare. The store will employ about 400 people.
Promotional to midpriced Ikea, with a large ready-to-assemble furniture business, does not release investment figures or sales projections.
The Conshohocken, Pa.-based North American arm was ranked No. 4 on Furniture/Today's Top 100 last year with estimated furniture, bedding and accessory sales of $1.3 billion at 24 U.S. stores in the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2005.
"We are thrilled to be locating an Ikea store at this site in Charlotte, where we can complement our Southeastern presence established in Atlanta and the stores under way in Florida," said Doug Greenholz, real estate manager for the chain, which has more than 250 stores in 34 countries, including 29 in the United States.
Ikea is set to open this fall in Sunrise and Orlando, Fla. Other units have been announced for Brooklyn, N.Y.; Draper, Utah; Portland, Ore.; Somerville, Mass.; and West Chester, Ohio.
The Charlotte store, with a 1,700-space parking lot, will be built on 25 acres near I-85. Crescent Resources, which sold the land to Ikea, will develop 135 acres surrounding the store once it opens, the retailer said.
