IKEA, the world's leading home furnishings retailer, announced that its future Denver-area store will open in Centennial, Colorado at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 27, 2011. It will be the Swedish company's first store and restaurant destination in Colorado and 38th in the United States. Until the 415,000-square-foot IKEA Centennial opens, customers can shop in Draper, UT and Tempe, AZ or at IKEA-USA.com. "The excellent construction progress made this past fall and winter by Saunders Construction and the subcontractors - as well as professional and timely reviews by local authorities - created an opportunity for us to open much earlier than originally envisioned," said IKEA project construction manager Doug Wolfe. Kelly Frieze, store manager of the future IKEA Centennial, added, "Knowing the excitement by Coloradans for us to open this store, we have decided to ensure that remaining construction milestones and the interior build-up process will be complete by July. Also, we continue to focus on training the 400 coworkers who will join the IKEA family before we open."
IKEA Centennial will present 10,000 exclusively designed items, three model home interiors, 50 room settings, a supervised children's play area, a 550-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries and salmon plates, as well as American dishes. Other family-friendly features include a 'Children's IKEA' area in the showroom, baby care rooms, preferred parking and play areas throughout the store.
The 415,000-square-foot IKEA Centennial, with approximately 1,500 parking spaces, is being built on 13.5 acres along the western side of Interstate 25, north of the Park Meadows area, accessible via connections to County Line Road. The store will reflect the unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide, and also will have solar panels on the store's roof and be the first U.S. IKEA store to integrate a geothermal component as part of its heating/cooling system.
This new IKEA store created 500 construction-related jobs and, on July 27, it will welcome 400 store coworkers into the IKEA family of more than 12,000 coworkers across the U.S. and 120,000 globally. While IKEA Centennial progresses through outfitting phases, prospective coworkers can begin applying this weekend for part time positions in home furnishings sales, customer service, cashiers, receiving, warehouse and stock replenishment. IKEA Centennial also offers food service opportunities in its Restaurant, Swedish Food market, Bistro and staff cafeteria.
There are currently more than 300 IKEA stores in 38 countries, including 37 in the U.S. Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA, the world's leading home furnishings company, has offered home furnishings and accessories of good design and quality at low prices so the majority of people can afford them. IKEA has been ranked among FORTUNE's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For", Working Mother's annual list of "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" and Training's annual "Top 100" ranking of companies that excel at human capital development. TIME listed IKEA as one of the top eight most global eco-conscious companies. IKEA incorporates sustainable efforts into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment. For more information, go to IKEA-USA.com.
