OREANDA-NEWS. IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today announced that its future Columbus store will open at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 7, 2017, expanding the IKEA presence in the Midwestern United States. 

“We are thrilled by the excellent construction progress made to date, and believe we can complete the remaining milestones and interior build-up by early-June. Besides furnishing our store, we also are focused on continuing recruitment and training of all the coworkers joining the IKEA family,” noted David Garcia, store manager of the future IKEA Columbus. “We look forward to introducing Central Ohio customers to a whole new way of shopping for the home.”

The 354,000-square-foot future IKEA Columbus and its 1,200 parking spaces is being built on 33 acres at the northeastern corner of Interstate-71 and Gemini Place in the Polaris Centers of Commerce. The store will reflect the unique architectural design for which IKEA is known worldwide, and includes one of Ohio’s largest rooftop solar arrays, consistent with the solar presence at 90% of IKEA U.S. locations.

IKEA Columbus will feature nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 inspirational room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a 450-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries and salmon plates, as well as American dishes and more sustainable options. Other family-friendly features include a ‘Children’s IKEA’ area in the Showroom, baby care rooms, play areas throughout the store and preferred parking.

In addition to the more than 500 jobs created from construction, approximately 300 coworkers will have joined the IKEA family when the new store opens. Diverse positions at this employer of choice are still available in: sales, customer service, cashiers, goods flow, receiving, warehouse and stock replenishment. Also, among its total coworkers, IKEA Columbus offers more than 60 food service opportunities in its Restaurant, Swedish Foodmarket, Cafe Bistro and coworker cafeteria.