IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, Thursday announced it is submitting plans to the City of Renton for a new and updated building to replace its current store as the Swedish retailer’s Seattle-area presence.
The application will mark the beginning of the governmental review process for this proposed on-site relocation. The new store will be built in part of the current parking area, with the older store ultimately being demolished to allow for more parking.
Until the new, updated store opens as early as fall 2016, customers can continue to shop at the existing Renton store.
The 398,000-square-foot current Seattle-area IKEA store is located on 29 acres in Renton, near State Highway 167, approximately 11 miles southeast of downtown Seattle. Built in 1979, the original, single-level structure previously had been utilized as a warehouse for aerospace electronics until IKEA converted it to be a retail store in October 1994.
The proposed 399,000-square-foot new Renton store would consist of two levels, provide nearly 1,700 convenient parking spaces, offer a more current layout and reflect the same unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide.
“With the store’s success and high awareness among consumers, we are excited for the chance to build a new IKEA store from the ground-up, adjacent to the current store and on land we already own,” IKEA U.S. CFO Rob Olson said in a press release. “A new store at this same location would allow coworkers to offer customers an updated and enhanced shopping experience.”
A new, more spacious Seattle-area IKEA store would feature the full assortment of nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 inspirational room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a larger restaurant for serving Swedish specialties. Other family-friendly features include a ‘Children’s IKEA’ area in the showroom, baby-care rooms, play areas throughout the store, and preferred parking.
IKEA now also offers a product picking and delivery service, and an IKEA FAMILY loyalty program. In addition to the already 350 Renton coworkers as part of the global IKEA family, IKEA would generate even more annual sales and property tax revenue to the City and local schools.
IKEA, drawing from its Swedish heritage and respect of nature, believes it can be a good business while doing good business and aims to minimize impacts on the environment. Globally, IKEA evaluates locations regularly for conservation opportunities, integrates innovative materials into product design, works to maintain sustainable resources, and flat-packs goods for efficient distribution. Specific U.S. sustainable efforts include: recycling waste material; incorporating environmental measures into the actual buildings with energy-efficient HVAC and lighting systems, recycled construction materials, skylights in warehouse areas, and water-conserving restrooms; and operationally, eliminating plastic bags from the check-out process, phasing-out the sale of incandescent light bulbs, facilitating recycling of customers’ compact fluorescent bulbs, and by 2016 selling only L.E.D. bulbs. IKEA also has installed electric vehicle charging stations at 13 stores, including the existing IKEA Renton, with roll-out planned for more locations.
Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered home furnishings of good design and function at low prices so the majority of people can afford them. There are currently more than 350 IKEA stores in 44 countries, including 38 in the U.S. IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment.
