IKEA Cincinnati-Area Store To Open In March 2008

Furniture World Magazine

IKEA, a leading home furnishings retailer, announced that its future Cincinnati-area store will open in West Chester, Ohio at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 12, 2008. It will be the Swedish company’s 1st store and restaurant destination in Ohio, 6th in the Midwest, and 34th in the United States. Until the 344,000-square-foot future IKEA West Chester opens, customers can shop at midwestern IKEA stores in Bloomington, MN; Canton, MI; Pittsburgh, PA; and two Chicago-area stores in Bolingbrook and Schaumburg, IL; or at www.IKEA-USA.com. “We made excellent progress on construction in the summer and fall, so we are confident the remaining construction milestones and interior build-up process will be complete by March,” noted Lonnie Rodgers II, store manager of the future IKEA West Chester. “Now our primary objective is to continue hiring and training the nearly 400 local hires who will be joining the IKEA coworker family before we open.” IKEA West Chester will present 10,000 exclusively-designed items, 48 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 344,000-square-foot future IKEA West Chester is located on 28 acres of a 56-acre parcel along I-75 at the southeastern corner of Allen and Muhlhauser roads, south of the Union Centre Boulevard exit. This new IKEA store created 500 construction jobs and, on March 12, 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 the future IKEA West Chester is progressing through outfitting phases, prospective coworkers still can apply for diverse positions available in home furnishings sales, customer service, safety and security, cashiers, maintenance, goods flow, receiving, warehouse and stock replenishment. IKEA West Chester also offers food service opportunities in its Restaurant, Swedish Foodmarket, Bistro and staff cafeteria. There currently are more than 270 IKEA stores in 36 countries, including 33 in the U.S., where other new stores will open in: Brooklyn, NY; Charlotte, NC; Somerville, MA; and Tampa, FL. 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 in FORTUNE’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.