IKEA Plans 17 More Stores in U.S.

Ingka Group (Leiden, Netherlands), IKEA Retail’s holding company, said it plans to invest $2.2 billion over the next three years to expand its U.S. presence, including eight new stores and nine of its smaller plan-and-order locales. (The latter stores offer kitchen, bedroom and living room planning, but do not sell merchandise on-site.)

“The U.S. is one of our most important markets, and we see endless opportunities to grow there and get closer to the many Americans with affordable products and services,” said Tolga Öncü, Ingka’s Head of IKEA Retail. “More than ever before, we want to increase the density of our presence in the U.S., ramp up our fulfillment capacities, and make our range even more relevant to local customers’ needs and dreams.”

Ikea currently has 51 stores and two plan-and-order locations in the U.S. Separate from the openings planned above are two full-line stores – one in San Francisco, the other in and Arlington, Va. – that are slated to debut this summer. (The company did not detail locations for the just-announced Ikeas.)

Ingka Group said its U.S. investment is part of an ongoing global expansion. The company noted it is investing about $165 million to open several locations around Spain and is also expanding substantially in the UK and London, where it will open a store on Oxford Street – its second in the capital. In Austria, in just three years, the biggest IKEA retailer has increased the number of stores and planning studios from 8 to 45.