IKEA Grows It's Presence In The Midwest

Furniture World Magazine

With company representatives, local government officials and community leaders on-hand, IKEA, the leading home furnishings retailer, officially broke ground for its future store in West Chester, OH, just north of Cincinnati. Until IKEA West Chester opens in Spring 2008, customers can shop at midwestern IKEA stores in Bloomington, MN; Canton, MI (which opened last June 2006); Pittsburgh, PA; and two Chicago-area stores in Bolingbrook and Schaumburg, IL; or at www.IKEA-USA.com. The 339,000-square-foot future IKEA West Chester and its 1,400 parking spaces will be built on 28 acres as part of a 56-acre parcel along I-75 at the southeastern corner of Allen and Muhlhauser roads, south of the Union Centre Boulevard exit. IKEA West Chester will reflect the same unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide. IKEA also will be selling three acres that will be available for complementary retail and restaurant uses. IKEA West Chester will present nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, three model homes, 50 room settings, a supervised children’s play area, a 300-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries and salmon plates, as well as American dishes. Other family-friendly features will include a ‘Children’s IKEA’ area in the showroom, baby care rooms, preferred parking and play areas throughout the store. “Now that construction is underway, it is exciting to see actual physical progress towards the future IKEA West Chester,” said Michael Maier, IKEA real estate manager. “We will be bringing our unique family-friendly shopping experience closer to more than 100,000 IKEA customers in the Ohio Valley who currently are driving great distances to shop at our stores. This location also will attract new customers from Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Lexington and Louisville as well as from the Cincinnati area.” When the store opens in Spring 2008, IKEA West Chester will welcome 400 new coworkers into the IKEA family. Candidates interested in working at this employer of choice should look for all positions online at www.IKEA-USA.com, where they will be able to apply for diverse positions available in: home furnishings sales, interior decoration, customer service, safety and security, cashiers, maintenance, goods flow, receiving, warehouse and stock replenishment. Also, setting itself apart from other retailers, IKEA West Chester will offer approximately 60 food service opportunities in its Restaurant, Swedish Foodmarket, Café Bistro and coworker cafeteria. IKEA has been ranked in FORTUNE’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list (three years in a row), Working Mother magazine’s annual list of “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” (four years in a row) and Training magazine’s annual “Top 125” ranking of companies that excel at human capital development (five years in a row). IKEA will create 500 construction jobs and generate significant tax revenue for local governments and schools. Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered a wide range of home furnishings of good design and function, at low prices so the majority of the people can afford them. As part of this commitment to create a better everyday life for the many people, IKEA incorporates environmentally and socially responsible efforts into day- to-day business, strives to be an employer of choice, and continually supports initiatives that benefit causes such as children and the environment. The unique and family friendly IKEA shopping experience currently can be found at more than 250 IKEA stores in 35 countries, including 29 in the U.S., where stores are being planned in: Brooklyn, NY; Charlotte, NC; Draper, UT; Orlando, FL; Portland, OR; Somerville, MA; Sunrise, FL; Tampa, FL; and West Chester, OH. To visit the IKEA Web site or for information about working at IKEA, please go to http://www.IKEA-USA.com.