The market within a given radius of St. Louis is not large enough for Ikea's business model. Besides, St. Louis is within 4.5 hours of the nearest Ikea in Chicago. That fits their model of being able to attract customers from a larger radius for weekend trips.
But they can get them to Chicago? That's crap.
I wonder if they don't think St. Louis is progressive enough for their product line?
I wonder if they don't think St. Louis is progressive enough for their product line?
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Can someone tell me the draw of IKEA? This is a serious question because never at any point in my life have I gotten excited about furniture. Of course I would root for them coming to the city just like any of the rest of you, but I wouldn't be beating their doors down to get in.
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Juice13610 wrote:never at any point in my life have I gotten excited about furniture.
Just wait a few years.
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DeBaliviere wrote:Juice13610 wrote:never at any point in my life have I gotten excited about furniture.
Just wait a few years.
You want to aget excited about furniture go to Bova, then open up a CB2 catalog. That works.
Double post...
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The reason they mention not expanding in St. Louis is the lack of a central distribution warehouse. However they are planning on opening a facility shortly in the Midwest making expansion into markets like ours more likely. They also have 2 stores in Chicago and will soon have 4 in the NY metro so the 4.5 hour drive time doesn't necessarily apply.
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I think St. Louis would be a great place for the distribution center, as we have direct highway access to KC, Denver via KC, OKC, Memphis, and Nashville. Pretty decent connectivity.
BL211 wrote:But they can get them to Chicago? That's crap.
I wonder if they don't think St. Louis is progressive enough for their product line?
Yeah there is a huge misconception that St. Louis is one of the least hip and least urban cities in the country and sometimes the sh*t that our leaders do perpetuates this idea. I mean we may not be as "trendy" and "cool" as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but I personally feel like we have a stronger urban culture than Charlotte or Dallas, give me an f'ing break IKEA
. If IKEA doesn't want to come to St. Louis screw em' I'd rather see a strong local chain anyway.It's not about that, Goat. There are a hell of a lot of "IKEA underserved" in a tight radius of those locations. St. Louis is just too close to Chicago. Also, there's nothing but sticks around us. We have a 3 million pop metro area and that's it. They will likely expand here when the time is right for them and a midwest distribution center would be a likely sign of midwest expansion.
How is it that Siberia gets an IKEA: but St. Louis can't support one?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/busin ... ref=slogin
(OK: we don't have tons of oil money. But still...)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/busin ... ref=slogin
Though pent-up demand for cars, cellphones and furniture is far from sated, this is still Siberia. The winters are long, the distances vast. And the history of the first Ikea store illustrates some enduring problems.
Dirk Hammerstein, the manager of the store in Novosibirsk, said Russian customers, many living with several generations crammed into tiny apartments, made a run on sofa beds in December. With the Siberian snow flurries falling ominously, it became a mighty test of his badly attenuated supply lines, stretching back along decrepit roads all the way to Moscow.
The truck convoys he dispatched for new sofa beds covered 2,050 miles each way to Ikea’s logistics center outside Moscow. He kept the store, the most remote in Ikea’s worldwide chain, in stock, barely.
(OK: we don't have tons of oil money. But still...)
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If distribution and a wide market radius are what they are looking for St. Louis MAKES all the sense in the World as they could be located on the east side in ONE COMPLEX!
All within driving distance:
KC..
Memphis..
Indy..
Springfield Mo.
Tulsa..
communities would fight to get an IKEA! all except columbia Ill as think of all the traffic!
All within driving distance:
KC..
Memphis..
Indy..
Springfield Mo.
Tulsa..
communities would fight to get an IKEA! all except columbia Ill as think of all the traffic!
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I don't get the Ikea-is-mecca thing. But then, I'm still in my elaborabe victorian antiquest phase.
Someone once told me something that makes a lot of sense: Many people just start out as young adults take to modern design (throwing off the old stuff of their parents) and then in later years feel a connection with old stuff with patina and age and they collect that. Then , in their last years, they want to simplify and have clean, no-frills life so they go back to clean/contemporary styles.
I saw my mother do this. I may head in that direction as well.
Someone once told me something that makes a lot of sense: Many people just start out as young adults take to modern design (throwing off the old stuff of their parents) and then in later years feel a connection with old stuff with patina and age and they collect that. Then , in their last years, they want to simplify and have clean, no-frills life so they go back to clean/contemporary styles.
I saw my mother do this. I may head in that direction as well.
GelatinousEndive wrote:I don't get the Ikea-is-mecca thing. But then, I'm still in my elaborabe victorian antiquest phase.
Someone once told me something that makes a lot of sense: Many people just start out as young adults take to modern design (throwing off the old stuff of their parents) and then in later years feel a connection with old stuff with patina and age and they collect that. Then , in their last years, they want to simplify and have clean, no-frills life so they go back to clean/contemporary styles.
I saw my mother do this. I may head in that direction as well.
I'm doing that exact thing, also. My eye is changing and no longer like frills, scrolls, clutter, silk flowers, or much of anything traditional anymore. Plus those are harder to dust and keep clean.
I love the anti-St. Louis bias on stl today forums.. what a joke. these people are total losers. if Cincinnati can support an IKEA, I think STL, since it's almost double their size, can support one. the problem is, aren't they more urban minded? maybe they think we're too suburban centered; i think they're onto something..
An interesting look at IKEA & population stats:
http://www.verysmallarray.com/?p=813
http://info.ikea-usa.com/StoreLocator/StoreLocator.aspx
I doubt that, given they certainly put most of their stores out in the suburbs, at least in places that are not NYC/LA.
http://www.verysmallarray.com/?p=813
JCity wrote:I love the anti-St. Louis bias on stl today forums.. what a joke. these people are total losers. if Cincinnati can support an IKEA, I think STL, since it's almost double their size, can support one. the problem is, aren't they more urban minded? maybe they think we're too suburban centered; i think they're onto something..
http://info.ikea-usa.com/StoreLocator/StoreLocator.aspx
I doubt that, given they certainly put most of their stores out in the suburbs, at least in places that are not NYC/LA.
I hate how everyone complains about St. Louis not having that "cool" factor. Who cares if IKEA doesn't sets up shop here, I've been around and I can tell you with a straight face that St. Louis can be a lot cooler than the so called "it" cities. I remember going to Atlanta for the first time and how everyone always said "Hotlanta this, ATL that, the A" and when I got there it had to be one of the blandness, most boring towns in the world and after being there a couple more times my opinion still has not changed. If anything its the people in suburban St. Louis always complaining about the city and comparing it to mega cities like Chicago, New York, San Fran, and Los Angeles that makes this area so pathetic......why we get compared to metros at least 2 to 3 times our size is beyond me.
...From the article/STLToday wrote:I guess you need public transportation near IKEA or any other store so when the thugs rip off the stores,they will have easy acesse back to the hood or ghetto.
I hate how everyone complains about St. Louis not having that "cool" factor. Who cares if IKEA doesn't sets up shop here, I've been around and I can tell you with a straight face that St. Louis can be a lot cooler than the so called "it" cities. I remember going to Atlanta for the first time and how everyone always said "Hotlanta this, ATL that, the A" and when I got there it had to be one of the blandness, most boring towns in the world and after being there a couple more times my opinion still has not changed.
I completely agree with you. Atlanta is an awful city. The only thing it has that I like are the number of cool new highrises and the aquarium. Other than that, it has horrible public transit, a HORRIBLE "grid" system, traffic 24/7, bad streets, sprawl, sprawl, sprawl, and not much originality. Add to it that they don't have many old buildings left standing and it makes the whole city feel like one big commercialized city.
TB1000 wrote:I hate how everyone complains about St. Louis not having that "cool" factor. Who cares if IKEA doesn't sets up shop here, I've been around and I can tell you with a straight face that St. Louis can be a lot cooler than the so called "it" cities. I remember going to Atlanta for the first time and how everyone always said "Hotlanta this, ATL that, the A" and when I got there it had to be one of the blandness, most boring towns in the world and after being there a couple more times my opinion still has not changed.
I completely agree with you. Atlanta is an awful city. The only thing it has that I like are the number of cool new highrises and the aquarium. Other than that, it has horrible public transit, a HORRIBLE "grid" system, traffic 24/7, bad streets, sprawl, sprawl, sprawl, and not much originality. Add to it that they don't have many old buildings left standing and it makes the whole city feel like one big commercialized city.
and don't get me started on the Peachtree Streets.
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ben1040 wrote:An interesting look at IKEA & population stats:
http://www.verysmallarray.com/?p=813
JCity wrote:I love the anti-St. Louis bias on stl today forums.. what a joke. these people are total losers. if Cincinnati can support an IKEA, I think STL, since it's almost double their size, can support one. the problem is, aren't they more urban minded? maybe they think we're too suburban centered; i think they're onto something..
http://info.ikea-usa.com/StoreLocator/StoreLocator.aspx
I doubt that, given they certainly put most of their stores out in the suburbs, at least in places that are not NYC/LA.
This is kind of silly. There's a very simple answer to why Cincinnati has an IKEA and STL does not. Draw a circle with a 100-mile radius around the store in Cincinnati. What do you have? Columbus, OH (and 45,000 OSU students), Louisville, Indy, Lexington and UK, Dayton and other places. Do the same with STL and what do you get? Springfield, IL, Columbia, MO and that's about it!