KCRag Forum

Ikea is building a store in urban St Louis as we speak.

chrizow wrote:Ikea is building a store in urban St Louis as we speak.

as I recall a new metrolink station is going in near it too

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pash wrote:There are urban Ikeas all over Europe and Asia, but only recently have they started building them in American cities rather than their suburbs.

Hmm, all of the Ikeas I've seen in Europe are on outskirts of city, but I haven't been to every city. Maybe they are starting to add urban stores lately.

I checked it out and was surprised how cheap made the furniture is even though heard that. Some are literally made from sticks and rollers on drawers wobble badly. Good for college and those starting out, and lots of good accessories. Also a lot of high quality efficiency living appliances, like washer/dryers to fit in small spaces. Living in a small condo I was more impressed with the appliances than the furniture, but I'm not the college/young family demographic.

flyingember wrote:went yesterday. ftoo bad this store wasn't built downtown. they built an urban store in Merriam, KS

but not all is lost. now there's thousands of KS residents that understand how to do retail well without needing a huge parking lot out front or a huge single story big box

Based on all of the IKEAs I have encountered in Europe I thought this was a remarkably urban location for them. I would have figured it would go in like Bonner Springs. They are really fond of outer ring roads.

i just looked at the merriam location, i didn't realize how squarely inside of the outerbelt of KC that is. perhaps they are figuring out that it's better to be closer to a huge part of their clientele in the inner suburbs and city neighborhoods. i can't believe that there isn't a closer in store in chicagoland, not that i've ever complained about a store being in bolingbrook off 55. in any case, it seems to be part of a new strategy, and the st. louis ikea appears to be the first inner city location in the midwest - i never saw that coming.

warwickland wrote:i just looked at the merriam location, i didn't realize how squarely inside of the outerbelt of KC that is. perhaps they are figuring out that it's better to be closer to a huge part of their clientele in the inner suburbs and city neighborhoods. i can't believe that there isn't a closer in store in chicagoland, not that i've ever complained about a store being in bolingbrook off 55. in any case, it seems to be part of a new strategy, and the st. louis ikea appears to be the first inner city location in the midwest - i never saw that coming.

if you look at that spot it makes complete sense

large development open and ready near a highway at multiple interchanges
good access to people with money
good access to different modes for deliveries. it's not far from the rail transfer points if they use rail
and multiple cross-town routes from a road standpoint. Shawnee Mission Parkway connects nicely to places east and west on top of the interstate

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LenexatoKCMO wrote:

flyingember wrote:went yesterday. ftoo bad this store wasn't built downtown. they built an urban store in Merriam, KS

but not all is lost. now there's thousands of KS residents that understand how to do retail well without needing a huge parking lot out front or a huge single story big box

Based on all of the IKEAs I have encountered in Europe I thought this was a remarkably urban location for them. I would have figured it would go in like Bonner Springs. They are really fond of outer ring roads.

The ones I am familiar with in Europe are suburban. But it's the furniture business and their business model demands they store their stock on site. Their requirements are -
lots of floor space to display an extensive inventory
lots of storage room for an extensive inventory
lots of parking because customers leave with the product
and loading docks

Hard to make an urban location work in many parts of the US and world. Land is too expensive - probably would have been more than fine in east DT KC though.

Would an east KC location have eliminated any Lawrence/Topeka business?

bbqboy wrote:Would an east KC location have eliminated any Lawrence/Topeka business?

There isn't a Trader Joe's in east KC either, nor an Apple Store, Cheesecake Factory or any number of trendy retailers. Everything seems to come to Johnson County or the west side first.

Theirs Restaurants at Legends that don't have locations in Johnson County or West side like Johnny Carino's use to have a Olathe location and so on.

mistervinix wrote:

bbqboy wrote:Would an east KC location have eliminated any Lawrence/Topeka business?

There isn't a Trader Joe's in east KC either, nor an Apple Store, Cheesecake Factory or any number of trendy retailers. Everything seems to come to Johnson County or the west side first.

for good reason, don't you think?

bbqboy wrote:

mistervinix wrote:

bbqboy wrote:Would an east KC location have eliminated any Lawrence/Topeka business?

There isn't a Trader Joe's in east KC either, nor an Apple Store, Cheesecake Factory or any number of trendy retailers. Everything seems to come to Johnson County or the west side first.

for good reason, don't you think?

Of course. It would have been newsworthy had they decided to build the IKEA in, say, Independence. Merriam is a little surprising, but I'm sure all of this has been already discussed.

mistervinix wrote:

bbqboy wrote:Would an east KC location have eliminated any Lawrence/Topeka business?

There isn't a Trader Joe's in east KC either, nor an Apple Store, Cheesecake Factory or any number of trendy retailers. Everything seems to come to Johnson County or the west side first.

I was more surprised there isn't a TJs north of the river. the northland tends to be reasonably balanced with southern JoCo.

Ikea is 20-25 minutes from my house 10 minutes north of dontown. and comparing Wed evening after work vs Sunday afternoon the store is 5x more crowded on Sunday

went Wed and got a few things, needed to measure before a puchase of a desk. Went back and navigated the crowds to get to the right display section to the warehouse location #s. Was just as quick to checkout as Wed

Coming to Merriam in front of IKEA.
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... 2&page=all