A new IKEA is coming to Florida, but it’s different. Will it have meatballs?
IKEA, the big box furniture retailer, announced it is opening a new store in Florida.
The chain is moving into University Town Center’s West District, right off Interstate 75 on the Sarasota-Bradenton border, and the new location will open at the end of this summer.
The store will join others in southern Florida: Sunrise in West Broward and Sweetwater in West Miami-Dade.
“Opening a new store in Sarasota builds on our broader efforts to meet customers where they are, including expanding our footprint in Florida last year through five new plan and order points with pick-up at select Best Buy locations across the state,” Rob Olson, IKEA U.S. interim CEO, said in a statement.
But how will the new UTC store compare to the existing ones?
IKEA’s stores vary in size. The nearest flagship store in Tampa is a two-story building totalling 353,000 square feet.
At 48,000 square feet, the newly announced UTC location will be a fraction of that size.
Planned amenities at the UTC location include:
- Thousands of products on display, including accessories, lighting, textiles and more than 100 small furniture pieces
- Larger items, such as sofas, beds and the entire IKEA range can be ordered online or in-store with free pickup or affordable delivery
- One-on-one home design consultations
- A Swedish Deli with meatballs, falafel balls, cinnamon buns and more
The company, which was founded in Sweden in the 1940s, has flagship stores ranging in size from 215,000 square feet to more than 500,000 square feet, according to RetailDive.com. The outlet also reported the retailer has city store locations in the 19,000 to 200,000 square foot range.
IKEA, founded in Sweden in 1943, has more than 400 stores in 32 countries, including six in Florida.
