For years, design-minded residents of St. Louis, Kansas City, and surrounding towns have bemoaned their region's "Ikea desert". To get one's hands on a BILLY bookcase required driving hours to Chicago, Minneapolis, or - much more recently - Denver. According to an Ikea press release that gaping hole in the Central Midwest will be filled in 2014…
Slated for the Kansas City suburb of Merriam, Kansas, Ikea plans to open a new, 350,000 square-foot store on the site of a former shopping center. Kansas Citians are generally ecstatic about the news after years of rumors and local efforts like a nearly-10,000-person Facebook group called "Bring Ikea to Kansas City".
Read more about the store's features and a bit on Ikea's 39th store, also slated for a 2014 opening, in the Miami area at Furniture Today.
Image: Ikea.com
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Eek! This is so exciting. We live in Northwest Arkansas, and have been known to make trips to Dallas just for Ikea (5.5 hours). But KC is a modest 3.5 hours drive, and has Trader Joes! Yes, this is wonderful news.
St. Louis feels snubbed for not being chosen—we will still feel that "Ikea desert" in our area. However, I'm sure most people would prefer to drive to KC than to Chicago. Hopefully in the future we will get one!
I'm with you MeganA...when is it our turn? Still, I'm glad IKEA is at least getting a little closer!
There's an IKEA in Ohio, but it's faster for us to drive to the one in Pittsburgh. What is in West Chester that makes Apple and IKEA set up there, but not Akron/Cleveland?
We've got one here in Michigan - Canton, to be exact if you're making the drive! And yep, a Trader Joe's in nearby Northville.
Isn't there an Apple store at Legacy Village in CLE?
WHAAAAATTTTT!!!!!!!!
Wait, where in Merriam is there room for an IKEA?
Maybe, we finally got an Apple store at Summit Mall a few years ago so I haven't looked at what else is around. I am really hoping for an Ikea though. I have been keeping my apartment pretty much empty while I try to find cheap furniture that looks good.
Ha, I figured it out. The shopping center they're demolishing to build it was anchored by a Circuit City, which barely even opened just as the company went bankrupt... So that makes sense now.
Very sad here in stl....feeling like the Ikea desert will never end!
I cannot tell you the joy that is being felt in Omaha Nebraska! 3 hour road trip!
So disappointing! Kansas isn't that much closer then Chicago, and honestly I'd rather do a weekend in Chicago then KC. Hopefully St. Louis will get one soon. Although The Kansas City one won't be opening for another 2 years, so I doubt I'll still be living here in 5 years when another Ikea opens...
HOLY CRAP!!! YEEEESSSSSS! Seriously, I have been waiting for this for *ages*. The 3-4 hour drive from Lincoln will totally be worth it. Excuse me, I have to go tell everyone I know.
every time I leave a state they get an IKEA
Excitement for bland, mediocre and often flimsy furniture? Save your money and buy something better, and preferably American made.
Get ready Craigslist KC!
Never understood this site's IKEA obsession.
I totally second (or third) the CLE/Akron area!! We totally have the population to have ONE if Chicagoland has the pop. for TWO of them, greedy bastards! (...kidding, I'm from there) But seriously though, I hate the idea of having to drive 2 hrs to Pitt. or more to Columbus or wherever the other one in OH is. ugh.
Congrats, Midwest!
Still waiting for one in the Raleigh, NC area. Three major universities within 30 minutes and a whole bunch of smaller colleges and universities in the same radius, one of the fastest growing metros in the country - what were they thinking when they put it in Charlotte first? Charlotte is just too far, especially for poor college students and economical non-students like myself. Those $15 curtains get real expensive after a four hour round-trip drive.
And how many IKEAs does south Florida really need? I mean come on. If the people in Miami and Homestead can't make it to Sunrise, something is really wrong. Oh wait...that's right, the traffic...
Congrats, Midwest!
Still waiting for one in the Raleigh, NC area. Three major universities within 30 minutes and a whole bunch of smaller colleges and universities in the same radius, one of the fastest growing metros in the country - what were they thinking when they put it in Charlotte first? Charlotte is just too far, especially for poor college students and economical non-students like myself. Those $15 curtains get real expensive after a four hour round-trip drive.
And how many IKEAs does south Florida really need? I mean come on. If the people in Miami and Homestead can't make it to Sunrise, something is really wrong. Oh wait...that's right, the traffic...
Here's an additional article from the Kansas City Star, including info like who's paying for this and where they will build it. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/27/3836143/ikea-to-announce-plans-store.html
Ahhh, that gaping hole has now been filled and we can all breathe easier. Not that long ago there was a roundup of house tours from Saint Louis and they were above and beyond some of the best tours I've ever seen on AT in terms of originality, creativity, use of old spaces for new purposes, etc. How did those poor people in eastern Missouri do it without IKEA in the back yard I'll never know.
Wooo Hooo !! An extra added plus for when I go to K.C. to visit Mom for Christmas !!!
The South needs one too!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miamiblue:
There was talk a few years ago about IKEA purchasing a site in Wake Forest. I haven't heard anything recently but it would be nice to have a store in the immediate area.