IKEA’s one of those dream stores to have in your own backyard. The selection is HUGE, the prices are WAY LOW, and the meatballs are TO DIE FOR! Unfortunately, not everyone qualifies for an IKEA. So what are the qualifications? Why doesn’t Fargo have an IKEA and is there any way we can get one?
***QUALIFICATIONS***
Population Density – The most basic requirement for a market is population. IKEA’s market research calls for a minimum of two million people within about 40-60 miles of a single media market.
Brand Awareness – IKEA looks for a brand awareness in a potential market, plus both local city and community support for an IKEA is an important factor.
Single Media Market – IKEA prefers an area where the population is in one major media market so that radio, television and newspaper ads can be targeted to one market.
Fargo gets shot down immediately with the whole two million people thing. I think we’re at about 220,000 residents in our metro so unless we have some kind of miraculous boom, that’s not our ticket. But that doesn’t mean we’re not getting an IKEA.
American IKEA’s are all pretty similar for the time being. They’re approximately 25,000 square feet with huge parking lots, restaurants, and A LOT of overhead. This is becoming less and less profitable for the massive chain so they’re trying something new. SMALLER STORES! Yep. Smaller stores means smaller cities and IKEA is currently trying these out in other countries before making the decision TO or NOT TO roll these out here in the United States.
These stores are more of a pick-up-and-go experience instead of a get-lost-for-hours in some kind of shopping corn maze type of thing. There will be no big parking lots and no restaurants inside. Dang. What about the meatballs? These new, smaller IKEA’s will be just under 10,000 square feet which is about 40% the size of what we’re seeing now.
So… no IKEA just yet for Fargo but for those who LOVE this place, we have hope. These stores only take about six months to get set up and I think Fargo would be a nice little hot spot. Come on out IKEA. We’ll treat you just fine.
