Ikea plans larger Burbank store

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, November 19, 2012

A rendering shows the larger store Ikea plans to build in Burbank, Calif.CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. - Ikea plans to open a new 470,000-square-foot store in Burbank, Calif., in the fall of 2016, which will be nearly twice the size of the current store it will replace in the market.
     The existing 242,000-square-foot store was the Sweden-based home furnishings giant's first in California and sixth in the nation, opening in 1990 on 6.4 acres along Interstate 5 and San Fernando Boulevard, the company said.
     The new store, just starting the governmental review process, will be less than a mile from the original location, but will sit on 22 acres west of San Fernando Boulevard and south of Providencia Avenue, with improved accessibility and 1,700 parking spaces. Ikea also plans to install a solar energy system similar to the one on the existing store.
     It said the old store could be incorporated into a local developer's plans "to spur further economic growth as the Burbank Town Center."
     "Because of this store's success, we are excited about the opportunity to build upon our established presence in Burbank with a new, roomier store so close to the existing one and in the same city," Mike Ward, Ikea U.S. president, said in a release.
     Ikea, with U.S. headquarters in Conshohocken, Pa., does not release projected sales and investment figures. The company was No. 2 on Furniture/Today's Top 100 with estimated U.S. furniture, bedding and accessories sales of $2.28 billion at 38 stores for is fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011, up nearly 9% from the year before.