Ikea readies its only East Coast store
Chain touting it as Canada’s most sustainable
Ikea is getting ready to officially open its only store in Atlantic Canada this week as thousands from across the region are expected to descend upon the popular Swedish furniture chain’s new Halifax-area location.
The store in the Dartmouth Crossing retail district — the size of four football fields, including its parking lot — features a bright, streamlined showroom with rooms that were furnished based on the needs of Maritimers.
Ikea Canada president Marsha Smith says the company visited 70 local residences to determine what people in the Halifax area needed in their homes, such as waste storage solutions.
A “living wall’’ — a floor-toceiling surface filled with green and yellow plants meant to help purify the air — overlooks the store’s restaurant and seating area.
Ikea Halifax also has a children’s play den and a massive warehouse stacked high with brown boxes that contain the company’s trademark unassembled furniture.
Social media has been abuzz since Ikea announced about two years ago it was opening a store in the region. It once had a smaller location in the Halifax area, but it closed nearly three decades ago.
“We really have seen a huge enthusiasm from the community and from the coworkers,’’ said Smith while sitting on a cream-coloured couch in a model living room at the entrance of the store’s showroom.
Smith says the Halifax store is Ikea’s most sustainable in the country and also the first store to be LEED-certified.
“That’s something that’s incredibly important to us,’’ said Smith.
“We have solar panels on the
roof which help to generate electricity, which we then use in the building. We also have a solar wall on the side of the building and the way that works is that as air passes through, it actually heats the air and which reduces the heating we need to tap into.’’
The store employs about 250 people.
The arrival of Ikea recently stirred up a bit of controversy locally online from people who took issue with the store
being called Ikea Halifax — the building technically sits in Dartmouth, which was once a separate city.
Smith says the Halifax name was chosen because the company wanted to reach as many people as possible, from the Halifax area and beyond. The company compared this approach to other stores such as Ikea Montreal, located in the Saint-Laurent area of that city.
The grand opening is on Wednesday.