IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today announced that its future Kansas City-area store will open in Merriam, KS at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, September 10, 2014, expanding the IKEA presence in the Midwestern United States.
MERRIAM, KS, 2014-8-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, todayannounced that its future Kansas City-area store will open in Merriam, KS at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, September 10, 2014, expanding the IKEA presence in the Midwestern United States. It will be the Swedish company’s first store in Kansas, and 40th in the U.S., with the closest IKEA stores in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and Texas. Customers can begin lining-up at the store on Monday, September 8, 2014 – 48 hours in advance of the doors’ opening on September 10 – and soon can learn of more grand opening plans and promotions at IKEA-USA.com/Merriam.
“We are thrilled by the construction progress made to date, and believe theremaining milestones and interior build-up will be complete by September,” notedRob Parsons, store manager of the future IKEA Merriam. “Besides furnishing ourstore, we are focused on training the 300 coworkers now part of the IKEA family.”
The 359,000 square-foot future IKEA store, and 1,200 parking spaces, is being built in the city of Merriam on 18.4 acres along the eastern side of Interstate-35 and Johnson Drive, eight miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri. The store will reflect the unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide, the region’s largest geothermal project and plans for the state’s largest rooftop solar array, consistent with the renewable energy presence at 90% of U.S. IKEA locations.
IKEA Merriam will feature nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 inspirational room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a 450-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries and salmon plates, as well as American dishes. Other family-friendly features include a ‘Children’s IKEA’ area in the Showroom, baby care rooms, play areas throughout the store, and preferred parking.
In addition to the more than 500 jobs created from construction, 300 coworkers have joined the IKEA family for when the new store opens. Diverse positions at this employer of choice include: sales, interior design, customer service, safety and security, cashiers, maintenance, goods flow, receiving, warehouse and stock replenishment. Also, among its total coworkers, IKEA Merriam employs more than 60 food service opportunities in its Restaurant, Swedish Foodmarket, Café Bistro and coworker cafeteria.
Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered home furnishings of good design and function, at low prices so the majority of people can afford them. There are currently more than 350 IKEA stores in 44 countries, including 38 in the U.S. IKEA has been ranked in FORTUNE’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, Working Mother magazine’s annual list of “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” and Training magazine’s annual “Top 100.” IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment. For more information, see IKEA-USA.com, @IKEAUSANews, @DesignByIKEA or IKEAUSA on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and Pinterest.
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Contact:
Joseph Roth, Expansion Public Affairs
(610) 834-0180 x 6500