It's Official - IKEA Canada Announces Plans to Rebuild IKEA Richmond

New store is scheduled to open by summer 2012

BURLINGTON, ON, Sept. 14 /CNW/ - Leading home furnishings retailer, IKEA Canada, announced today that its store in Richmond, BC will be relocated, rebuilt and ready to serve the Richmond market by summer 2012. The announcement comes on the heels of receiving the final City of Richmond rezoning approvals needed to move forward with this exciting new project that will better serve the needs of the Vancouver market.

The new two-level store with parking underneath will move from its current location on Sweden Way to an adjacent site located between Jacombs Road and Knight Street. IKEA purchased this land for this store location in 2002, and recently purchased additional land in the immediate area to meet future expansion needs.

"Our journey of developing our Richmond store into a completely new shopping experience for our customers is coming to fruition," says Kerri Molinaro, President of IKEA Canada. "We have been providing inspirational home solutions to customers in Richmond for 33 years, longer than any other IKEA market in Canada.  We look forward to continuing that tradition with our new store."

Construction of the 334,000 sq ft new store will begin in November and will take up to 18 months to relocate and build. The new Richmond store will offer over 9,000 products from the IKEA range amongst its 50 room settings. In addition, the store will include a 500 plus seat restaurant, and over 1,400 parking spaces.

In line with IKEA's policy to have a positive impact on people and the environment, the new store will incorporate many sustainable and environmental features such as: geothermal installation to heat and cool the building; high efficiency heating and cooling systems; water conservation plumbing fixtures; skylights that will allow for more natural light thereby reducing the lighting provided by fixtures; an edible rooftop garden and water storage/infiltration systems that will reduce stormwater flows and volume. The iconic IKEA navigation tower will also include rain water storage capabilities as well as solar panels that will be used to generate electricity to light the parking lot. A separate solar thermal installation on the roof will be used to generate warm water for the restaurant.

In addition to jobs created during the construction phase, IKEA will be looking to recruit additional coworkers to join the IKEA family when the new store opens.

About IKEA

IKEA is a leading home furnishings retailer with 267 stores in 25 countries worldwide, which are visited by 590 million people every year. IKEA Canada has 11 stores which are visited by over 25 million people every year. Last year the ikea.com websites attracted 561 million visitors. Founded in 1943, IKEA's business philosophy is to offer a wide range of products of good design and function at prices so low, the majority of people can afford them. For more information on IKEA, please visit: www.ikea.ca.

For further information:

Media Contact:
Madeleine Löwenborg-Frick
National Public Relations Manager,
IKEA Canada
T: 905-637-9440 x6378
[email protected]