Iconic furniture giant Ikea to open store in Sunrise

By Jaclyn Giovis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 15 2006

After two years scouting South Florida, Swedish furniture giant Ikea announced Tuesday it will build its first store in the state in Sunrise by summer 2007 -- a retail victory for Broward County and the region's shoppers.

The 293,000-square-foot signature store at the northwest corner of State Road 84 and Northwest 136th Avenue is expected to become a destination spot much like its northern neighbor, Sawgrass Mills mall, drawing shoppers from as far south as Key Largo and as far north as Jupiter.

Tuesday's announcement ends yearlong negotiations between the popular home-furnishing outlet and Fort Lauderdale developer Stiles Corp., which is building a retail center on 25 acres at the intersection.

Known for offering more than 10,000 well-designed and affordable home furniture and accessory items, Ikea has developed a worldwide cult following, especially among college students, pennywise homebuyers, and shoppers who love the brand's hip, modern look.

Stores feature an in-house Swedish cafeteria and a supervised play area for children.

"They have a loyal legion of followers and people will be there two days before the opening, waiting in line for the big, grand-opening event," said Britt Beemer, a national consumer expert and founder of America's Research Center. "It will certainly change retailing [in South Florida] a little bit ... Initially, there will be traffic jams in the area."

For Ikea faithfuls, a South Florida store means no more catalogs or shopping online. Until now, they had to drive more than 600 miles to Atlanta to visit one of the company's 26 stores in the United States.

"I'm glad that they're finally getting a store here," said Ikea catalog shopper Beatrice Salom, 60, adding she will gladly make the 45-minute trek from south Miami-Dade County to Sunrise. "Ikea has great quality and their prices are fantastic."

Sunrise, which now joins the elite roster of cities such as New York, Los Angeles and London with an Ikea store, stands to reap considerable sales tax revenue, although projections are still not available.

The average U.S. Ikea store last year brought in about $91 million in sales. The Sunrise store will create about 350 jobs in the region. Construction is set to begin this spring, the company said.

"For us, it's another confirmation of the Sawgrass Mills area as a regional destination," Sunrise City Commissioner Sheila Alu said Tuesday.

The company had considered building its store in western Davie, but later withdrew those plans after nearby residents opposed them.

"Florida has always been on the map for us," said Pernille Lopez, president of Ikea North America, who declined to discuss terms of the deal, citing confidentiality agreements. "It's been a few years, but we are ready now."

In Sunrise, Ikea will anchor the development known as the Gateway at Sawgrass, which also will include a 40,000-square-foot strip center that will host specialty retail tenants and casual, upscale restaurants.

The Ikea store will feature three model homes, 50 room settings and a 250-seat restaurant that serves Swedish favorites.

Building a store in Florida has long made sense for Ikea. The state has more customers -- 250,000 plus -- than any other state without an Ikea store, said Ikea spokesman Joseph Roth.

In new markets, Ikea stores have become a destination place, drawing shoppers from neighboring states.

"Not everyone has one, and it's great that they picked South Florida as an entrée into Florida," said Beth Azor, a regional retail consultant.

Ikea is considering additional locations in Florida, although the company's immediate attention is on opening the Sunrise location.

"There's a big potential for us in Florida, so we have lots of hopes for this one," Lopez said.

Sun-Sentinel Staff Writer Kevin Smith contributed to this report.

Jaclyn Giovis can be reached at jmgiovis@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4668



Sunrise store facts

Opening: Summer 2007

Construction: To begin this spring.

Jobs to be created: 350

Size of store: 293,000 square feet

last i heard this idea was abandoned and they where scouting miami areas such as dolphin stadium area and even as far as el doral area closer to miami international airport.

so not sure why they say finally confirmed when word is they are still shopping around. stupid davie wants trailers instead of stores in there neighborhood.

Huh?
Did you read the article?
It was written on February 15, 2006. Ikea and Stiles Corp. have confirmed that Florida's first IKEA will be built by next year in Sunrise, just south of Sawgrass Mills.
Davie has nothing to do with this.

they wanted to build in davie first and the nimbys didnt want people coming and disturbing their nice quiet suburb... so they went to sunrise... iono but rx is usually the man, mayb this fell apart in the past day or so...

theres lots of talk about el doral area for ikea store from what ive heard
at first it was becuase of the tri county benefit but now im not sure it they rethought the idea... lets sit it out and wait then.... heads or tales

Ikea gave up on Davie more than a year ago.

The South Florida Business Journal has been covering the story about the possible Sunrise location and Ikea's business dealings with Fort Lauderdale based Stiles Corp. for atleast 8 months!

They also stated that they were not interested in building in Miami-Dade because the long distance shoppers that Ikea attracts might be detered by the thought of having to drive through Miami traffic, not to mention having to drive through Palm Beach and Broward just to get to Miami.

Do you have any newspaper articles to back up any Doral rumors?

THE DEAL IS DONE.

Good news. But what will be done to alleviate the already choking traffic? What else is meant to be in the development?

You know, the story of IKEA going to Sunrise was like on the news a couple of days ago... To me, the report seemed like it was conveying the message that the residential and traffic issue were taken care of.

Yea that area is already congested at rush hour, but in relation to the rest of Broward it's pretty quiet. And atleast it's near the intersection of two highways.

Was the Davie site that was considered more remote/less populated than Sunrise?

yes, it was... there are more people per square mile in Sunrise than in Davie. And Sunrise has always been looking to attract the large-chain stores. Sunrise is clearly the only "suburb" in Broward county that is thinking on a very big level. First it was Sawgrass Mills and all the outlets. Then came the car dealerships and the National Car Rental/ Office Depot/Bank Atlantic Center. Now there are plans for IKEA, the 27-story TAO condominums, and Metropica. As soon as the SFRTA instills more public transportation, traffic in the region won't become as significant of an issue. I don't think they could've chosen a better site for IKEA.

Was the Davie site that was considered more remote/less populated than Sunrise?

No. The Davie site was adjacent to a very, very busy shopping center and insection right at I-595 just a few miles down the highway from the Sunrise site. The site in Davie also backed up to a single-family residential subdivision (the site's biggest hurdle). That site would have caused worse congestion than the Sunrise site which is in a more industrial area and closer to the edge of W. Broward.

Ikea wouldn't care that Davie is less dense than Sunrise because the store is not being built for Sunrise customers, it's being built to attract people from all over the region, arriving by highway. Ikea said from the beginning that they were focusing on a site in west Broward near 595, not in any particular suburb.

I think the site is perfect. Ikea often builds at or near Mills Malls around the country.

The first site is pretty easy to decide, I guess. If and when they expand farther, I wonder where they'd go. LA, NY and TO metros have four each!