From where others sit

By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 10, 2008 at 11 p.m.

Text size

Poll

Considering that owner-assembled furniture is an Ikea trademark, would you be more or less inclined to shop at the Swedish retailer?

Photo by Stephen Chernin / Getty Images/2005

A young girl plays in the children's furniture area at an Ikea store in Paramus, N.J. Ikea, a Swedish company, plans to open a store in Centennial.

More Retail

Map my news

Ikea on Wednesday announced it would finally be opening shop in the Denver area after years of speculation and even yearning by some Coloradans for the cheap chic furniture retailer. Ikea expects its 400,000-square-foot store in Centennial, north of the Park Meadows mall, to be a draw from a five-state area when it opens in the next few years. The Rocky Mountain News talked to longtime furniture retailers and retail experts in Colorado to get their thoughts on why the Swedish retailer is so popular and what effect Ikea will have on the local furniture landscape.

"WE HAVE GOTTEN AWAY FROM ASSEMBLE-IT- YOURSELF FURNITURE. People just don't like it. And today the cost of furniture allows people to be shopping in the same price point for furniture that you don't have to put it together yourself.

"Beyond their furniture, Ikea has a lot of great stuff for houses. They're a a terrific company. . . . We work a lot with economic development officials on attracting businesses, and we're happy that they're coming here.

"In Denver and Colorado, we're a very strong player at that price point. I don't think that Denver was on their top tier."

Andrew Zuppa, corporate general manager, American Furniture Warehouse

"IT'S A GREAT THING. We've always believed that Ikea stayed out because of Jake Jabs and American Furniture Warehouse, and I think it's pretty interesting that they're willing to come in and compete. They do take a more modern European aesthetic; Jake tends to be a little more traditional. American Furniture Warehouse does have modern furniture, but it's different than the modern Scandinavian aesthetic. Ikea also has more housewares, along the lines of Organized Living, Crate & Barrel and Bed Bath & Beyond.

"We aren't competing with Ikea. My customer is going to buy stuff for their kids' rooms, their basement, their mountain houses at Ikea. They know it will be disposable. But it also will get our local consumer to think more about their home aesthetic and design. Ikea is very design-focused.

"The most significant part of this from a business point of view is (furniture retailers) are all supposed to be dead because the world is coming to an end. Yet here Ikea, and I'd put them in the extra-savvy- operator category, has made a strategic decision that metro Denver is a great place to do business.

"This is not an ice cream shop. Ikea stores are 400,000 square feet. A Crate & Barrel prototype runs around 35,000. This is a massive commitment."

Ron Werner, co-founder of HW Home, which has four stores along the Front Range

"IKEA LITERALLY APPEALS TO CONSUMERS OF ALL GENERATIONS. In Denver - because of the large number of universities - it has particular appeal to students.

"The ready-to-assemble furniture market is one that is surprisingly not well- developed. Wal-Mart and Kmart and other discount stores sell (ready-to-assemble furniture), but they tend to focus more on wearables and consumables, and don't have the breadth and depth of furniture. Consumers are ultimately disappointed.

"While the U.S. has developed category-dominant stores for office and pet goods, the furniture store is the last unchartered frontier for some reason.

"Unlike most retailers, Ikea tends to be an anchor site onto itself. . . . Ikeas are child- friendly, parent-friendly and student-friendly stores that tend to have the easiest access of almost any retailer in terms of parking and highway transportation. A normal store would have a primary trade area of 2.5 miles or five miles. Ikeas can have a primary trade area of 25 miles or more and a secondary trade area of 25 to 100 miles."

Burt Flickinger III, managing partner of New York-based consulting firm Strategic Resource Group

"IKEA'S SHEER SIZE IS WHAT SETS IT APART. The store is going to be around 400,000 square feet, and I think the next closest would be the Great Indoors around 200,000. The small shop space between anchors (at a mall) is less than what their store size is.

And they have great branding. They cut across so many different customer lines - students, the young, the remodelers, the second-home owners. It's a fun store."

Mary Beth Jenkins, president Denver-based real estate firm The Laramie Co.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News