For Immediate Release
March 5, 2009
IKEA ANNOUNCES ITS TAMPA BAY STORE WILL OPEN MAY 6
TAMPA, FL – IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today announced that its future Tampa store will open at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 . It will be the Swedish company’s 3rd store and restaurant destination in Florida, 6th in the Southeast, and 37th in the United States. Until the 353,000 square-foot IKEA Tampa opens, customers can shop at stores in Orlando, FL and Sunrise, FL or at www.IKEA-USA.com.
“We are thrilled at the excellent construction progress made in the summer and fall, and believe the remaining construction milestones and interior build-up process will be complete by May – much earlier than originally envisioned,” noted Monica Varela, store manager of the future IKEA Tampa. “Now our primary goal is hiring and training the 400 local hires who will be joining the IKEA coworker family before we open.”
IKEA Tampa will present 10,000 exclusively-designed items, 49 room settings, 3 model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a 350-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries or salmon plates, as well as American dishes. Family-friendly features include a ‘Children’s IKEA’ area in the showroom, baby care rooms, preferred parking and play areas in the store.
The 353,000-square-foot future IKEA Tampa, with 1,700 parking spaces, will be built on 29 acres along Adamo Drive at 22nd Street and the Crosstown Expressway, and will reflect the same unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide.
This new IKEA store created 500 construction jobs and, on May 6, it will welcome 400 new coworkers into the IKEA family of more than 11,000 coworkers across the U.S. and 120,000 globally. Although IKEA Tampa is progressing through outfitting phases, prospective coworkers still can apply for diverse positions available in home furnishings sales, customer service, cashiers, receiving, warehouse and stock replenishment. IKEA Tampa also offers food service opportunities in its Restaurant, Swedish Foodmarket, Bistro and staff cafeteria.
There currently are more than 290 IKEA stores in 36 countries, including 36 in the U.S. , where other new stores will open in: Centennial, CO and Somerville , MA . Since its 1943 founding in Sweden , IKEA has offered a wide range of home furnishings and accessories of good design and function, at low prices so the majority of the people can afford them. IKEA has been ranked inFORTUNE’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list (three years in a row), Working Mother magazine’s annual list of “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” (four years in a row) and Training magazine’s annual “Top 100” ranking of companies that excel at human capital development (five years in a row). IKEA incorporates environmentally friendly and socially responsible efforts into day-to-day business, and continually supports initiatives that benefit causes such as children and the environment. For more information about IKEA, and about working at IKEA, please go to www.IKEA-USA.com
