IKEA! IKEA! IKEA!
FINALLY! IKEA has bought land in Draper (suburb of Salt Lake City) to build an IKEA store! There have been rumors swirling around for 2-3 years that IKEA was coming to Utah and finally it looks like it's happening.
I used to pass by the IKEA store nearly every day when I lived in the suburbs of Oslo, Norway (the store that was only the world's 2nd IKEA store ever after the first one in Älmhult, Sweden...and yes, Oslo had IKEA two years before Stockholm, Sweden!)
IKEA is such a cool company. Did you know that IKEA charters planes from Tromsø, Bodø and Harstad in northern Norway for shoppers to fly down to Trondheim to shop at IKEA?
And I thought it was great that they had a bus from Manhattan (where I lived for two years) to the Elizabeth, NJ IKEA.
Once while on a vacation to Los Angeles, I went shopping at IKEA and wrote in their guestbook that I wished they would open an IKEA in Utah. Before I even arrived home from my trip, they had mailed me a letter thanking me for my comments in their guestbook and said they were forwarding my request to their real estate manager. How nice that they not only responded to me, but that a letter from IKEA was waiting for me on my return from vacation!
Rumors of an IKEA in Utah have been swirling and fomenting for years and finally reached a fever pitch in the past few months. Every day I would look up the local newspaper online expecting to see news of IKEA coming to Utah. Yesterday, the news was finally in the Salt Lake Tribune:
"Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA, which has been scouting the Wasatch Front for its first Utah location, appears to have found a site for a new store in Draper near the intersection of Interstate 15 and Bangerter Highway.
The commercial real estate industry is abuzz with news that the company, the world's largest home furnishings retailer with more than $18 billion in sales a year, is purchasing nearly 40 acres of prime commercial property with freeway visibility at approximately 13350 S. Pony Express. In fact, those with knowledge of the deal say the transaction could close within weeks, which would pave the way for a new store within a couple of years.
Commercial brokers say a new Ikea store would raise the state's profile among retailers nationally, perhaps even attracting other retailers that don't yet operate here."
Another retail store that I've been looking forward to here, the Apple store, is opening at the Gateway Mall in downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday, 19. November 2005.
Now if only we could get Crate & Barrel, Urban Outfitters and maybe Hennes & Mauritz to open stores here... oh and Crunch gym. Then we'd be set.
I used to pass by the IKEA store nearly every day when I lived in the suburbs of Oslo, Norway (the store that was only the world's 2nd IKEA store ever after the first one in Älmhult, Sweden...and yes, Oslo had IKEA two years before Stockholm, Sweden!)
IKEA is such a cool company. Did you know that IKEA charters planes from Tromsø, Bodø and Harstad in northern Norway for shoppers to fly down to Trondheim to shop at IKEA?
And I thought it was great that they had a bus from Manhattan (where I lived for two years) to the Elizabeth, NJ IKEA.
Once while on a vacation to Los Angeles, I went shopping at IKEA and wrote in their guestbook that I wished they would open an IKEA in Utah. Before I even arrived home from my trip, they had mailed me a letter thanking me for my comments in their guestbook and said they were forwarding my request to their real estate manager. How nice that they not only responded to me, but that a letter from IKEA was waiting for me on my return from vacation!
Rumors of an IKEA in Utah have been swirling and fomenting for years and finally reached a fever pitch in the past few months. Every day I would look up the local newspaper online expecting to see news of IKEA coming to Utah. Yesterday, the news was finally in the Salt Lake Tribune:
"Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA, which has been scouting the Wasatch Front for its first Utah location, appears to have found a site for a new store in Draper near the intersection of Interstate 15 and Bangerter Highway.
The commercial real estate industry is abuzz with news that the company, the world's largest home furnishings retailer with more than $18 billion in sales a year, is purchasing nearly 40 acres of prime commercial property with freeway visibility at approximately 13350 S. Pony Express. In fact, those with knowledge of the deal say the transaction could close within weeks, which would pave the way for a new store within a couple of years.
Commercial brokers say a new Ikea store would raise the state's profile among retailers nationally, perhaps even attracting other retailers that don't yet operate here."
Another retail store that I've been looking forward to here, the Apple store, is opening at the Gateway Mall in downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday, 19. November 2005.
Now if only we could get Crate & Barrel, Urban Outfitters and maybe Hennes & Mauritz to open stores here... oh and Crunch gym. Then we'd be set.
posted by Stenar at 11:00
6 Comments:
I am so excited for the new Ikea! I can't wait until it's built I did a search for info about the new store here in Utah and it gave me your site. I'm glad I found that so I could read the SL Trib article.
Hey Stainer,
Ever heard "Kings of Convenience" they are from Bergen. They kick butt!
Mr. Man
Yes, I've heard of KoC. Their music is a little slow for my tastes. I like faster, more upbeat music, generally.
Any updates as to opening date? I was just back in Minneapolis and went 3 x's in two days. What a trip! Repeatables
The only thing I've heard so far from IKEA is that they will be opening their SLC store in Spring 2007.
Ikea made a very bad first impression with me. I ordered a simple folding table from their online store. The processing of the order was amateurish and required phone confirmation of details that I had already given online. The table arrived and aside from looking like a 60% mockup of a real table, the top was damaged. The fault was in the packing, not with the carrier. There was no corner padding on the tabletop and the strap around the box was so tight it smashed the laminate. When I sent an email to Ikea customer service, it generated a generic automatic reply telling me to call. I decided to cut my losses and just avoid doing business with Ikea in the future.
I suppose having a store here will be "nice" inasmuch as you'll have somewhere to return damaged goods and eat Swedish meatballs. The Ikea design philosophy doesn't appeal to me much. Cheap, semi-disposable furniture from a big box store. It's okay to be Wal-Mart if you're euro-hip enough, I suppose.
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