11-24-2015, 05:18 PM
More info in the Record: Ikea to open scaled-down outlet in Kitchener next spring
Quote:The pickup and order centre will go into a former Sears furniture store at 130 Gateway Park Dr., off Sportsworld Drive in south Kitchener, and open in spring 2016... The new outlet will occupy just over 30,000 square feet — about one tenth the size of a full-service Ikea store...
The outlet will feature a display area where people can get design ideas, as well as staff who can help people with their orders. Customers can place orders at the store, and pick them up for a reduced delivery fee two days later. But people can't actually go to the store and pick up items on impulse...
A customer could go into the pickup centre and work with an Ikea adviser to order a new kitchen and then have it delivered to the outlet two days later for about $99, rather than a fee of about $400 to get the goods delivered from the Ikea full-service store in Burlington...
The announcement doesn't rule out the possibility of a full-service store coming to Kitchener later, he said. The population of Waterloo Region and Guelph is more than 500,000, he noted, and "that is a fantastic potential for us as a retailer to establish in this market. That means that customers, new customers in this surrounding area, will have the opportunity to interact with Ikea."
"We have identified Kitchener as a really interesting market," he said. If the new outlet proves successful, "of course we'll look into if we can build a store here as well."