New Ikea headed for the Domain
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Ikea, the popular Swedish furniture store, is expanding its Austin footprint.
Driving the news: Ikea will open what the company is calling a plan and order point — a sort of mini-version of its famous big box store — in the Domain this summer.
- This will be the second Ikea location, after Round Rock, in the Austin area.
- Customers can get support from Ikea experts to plan and order home furnishing solutions that require a bit more design help — such as bedroom storage systems and kitchen cabinets and appliances — and arrange for delivery or pickup of online and in-person orders.
By the numbers: The new stores tend to be less than 8,600 square feet.
- The Round Rock Ikea, by contrast, clocks in at more than 300,000 square feet.
Between the lines: The plan and order points are part of Ikea's $2.2 billion strategy to make its ready-made furniture more accessible.
- Small-format stores "may even be necessary if Ikea's storefront reach is to extend outside large urban areas," Hart Posen, a University of Wisconsin business professor, told the journal Retail Dive last year.
Zoom out: Besides the new Austin store, the company plans to open one in Katy this spring.
- It already operates such a store in Dallas-Fort Worth.
What they're saying: "We have identified geographic areas ... where affinity for IKEA is extremely high," officials at Ikea U.S. tell Axios about the decision to choose the Domain, among other plan and order spots.
- The new stores reflect "the continued growth of city living and changing consumer lifestyles," company officials say.
The burning question: Are Ikea's famous meatballs available at its plan and order points?
- The company is not planning to sell food at its Domain site, a company representative tells Axios.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that meatballs will not be sold at the planned Ikea in the Domain.