IKEA drops Glendale plan
Swedish furniture giant IKEA has canceled plans to build its second Arizona store in the West Valley, Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps confirms.
“Local representatives for IKEA indicated this decision is part of a new corporate strategy focused on e-commerce.” Kevin Phelps Glendale, City Manager, Glendale
Swedish furniture giant IKEA has axed plans to build its second Arizona store in Glendale, City Manager Kevin Phelps confirmed Friday.
The decision dashed the hopes of many West Valley residents who had cheered the announcement of the store last fall. The state’s only other IKEA is in Tempe.
The proposed location was expected to sprawl across 29 acres at the southeast corner of Bethany Home Road and Loop 101, just south of the University of Phoenix football stadium.
The destination store was planned to open in 2020, but the city got notice several weeks ago that the company would drop its rezoning application. More recently, a company attorney confirmed the nixed expansion plans.
“IKEA recently notified the city that they will not be moving forward with a number of planned projects in the U.S. and that includes building a new store in Glendale. Local representatives for IKEA indicated this decision is part of a new corporate strategy focused on ecommerce,” a written statement from Phelps said.
“We were disappointed on a number of fronts,” he told The Arizona Republic. “We really knew that IKEA would be a wonderful corporate partner, and we knew IKEA would be incredibly successful at that site.”
IKEA also canceled plans to open a store in Cary, North Carolina, The News
& Observer reported Wednesday.
“Over the last year, IKEA U.S. has been on a journey to expand our multichannel shopping experience with new retail locations, enhanced technology and greater accessibility to meet today’s customers where they are in today’s fast-changing retail environment,” IKEA said in a statement to the North Carolina news outlet.
Phelps is looking for the silver lining. “IKEA, throughout this country, is recognized as a quality site selector, so the fact that they chose this site, now that it’s on the market, it’s going to generate significant interest,” he said.
The farmland is south of the stadium, which will host another Super Bowl in 2023, it was announced this week.
The area has seen an uptick in development, including TopGolf going up just west of the stadium, a larger casino under construction north of the stadium and numerous new restaurants and loft-style apartments opening in the Westgate Entertainment District.
But apparently that boom won’t include IKEA and the jobs it was expected to bring.