Amid all the public excitement over Ikea’s Winnipeg plan is a danger that those high expectations have so far to fall.

Considering this city’s record on infrastructure renewal and paving the way for development, that risk is very real. The international home furnishings retail giant’s arrival here is certainly not a done deal, as long as more than $20 million in street expansions and traffic signal improvements are necessary for the chain to open its proposed 350,000-square-foot outlet within three years.

While the city and province speak confidently about giving Ikea Canada the infrastructure it needs, the company’s chosen site at Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway is in a district seemingly symbolic of intergovernmental bumbling, disagreement and delay. Remember the Doer government’s years of stalling on Kenaston’s $38-million underpass at Wilkes Avenue during city hall’s efforts to get it done? How about the city’s amusing trumpeting last year of the very same south Route 90 as an example of its supposedly speedy progress to allegedly synchronize signal lights?

And we’re to expect that a widening of Kenaston is so easy in light of these stumbles, and while we continue to wait for Ottawa — after five years or so — to say anything at all about what will become of the massive, vacant Kapyong Barracks? Throw in a requirement for a change to Plan Winnipeg — a cumbersome document if ever there were one — and the hype over Ikea’s hopes here poses better prospects of a letdown than the Save the Jets Campaign in 1995.

And we all know how that turned out.

For Mayor Sam Katz and Premier Gary Doer, this situation is ripe for their embarrassment and for their constituents’ outrage — particularly because Winnipeg’s fiercely small-town, anti-development attitude gives no such major ultra-urban project an easy green light.

“As much as they say they’re coming, I don’t ever believe they actually will,” Jo-Anna Watts, one Winnipeg consumer, wisely said of Ikea after the firm’s announcement.

And University of Manitoba business analyst Rob Warren, who has long questioned Ikea’s viability in Winnipeg, says he’s not changing his opinion “until I see a shovel in the ground.” This is the beginning of a development covering 1.5 million square feet, in a city that makes three-storey apartment buildings and tiny strip malls a massive undertaking amid a fuss of acrimony and finger-pointing.

We’re not even at the public open house stage. And Ikea’s largest Canadian superstore is on its way here?

Sure it is — when we see not only a shovel in the ground but its doors wide open.

[Via Winnipeg Sun]

See also:

Despite hype, locals seem somewhat ‘meh’ about IKEA coming to Manitoba

Who would say no to IKEA…

What do you think?  Are you excited about IKEA in Winnipeg?  Do you think it will actually happen?  Will the current state of the faltering economy impact IKEA’s plans to build in Winnipeg?

IKEA Canada Announces IKEA Winnipeg to be Opened between 2011 and 2013 near Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway.

Although many furniture retailers in Winnipeg have been forced to close their doors, IKEA Canada has announced that it plans to open an IKEA in Winnipeg sometime between late 2011 and early 2013.

The affordable home furnishings retailer has signed an agreement to acquire a large piece of land at Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway, formerly part of the CN Intermodal Terminal.

However, the future of an IKEA in Winnipeg is conditional upon Municipal and Provincial government approvals. In order to move into their planned location, they must first rezone and redevelop the land.

The IKEA store will be approximately 350,000 square feet, and will be one of the anchor stores in a new 1.5 million square feet retail development.

Planning is still in the preliminary stages and the IKEA site plans and project concept plans are expected to be ready for an open house in March 2009. The public will be invited to review details of concept plans for the IKEA store and the project.

Kerri Molinaro, president of IKEA Canada, said Winnipeg was under consideration for quite a while.

“We are continually reviewing expansion opportunities in Canada, and have for a long time considered Winnipeg as a key market for expansion. If we are able to secure the approvals necessary to accommodate our needs, we will look forward to serving the Winnipeg market and are confident that we will have a positive impact on the community through job creation and service contracts.”

This announcement is welcome in Winnipeg after much speculation about whether the store would come here. Currently, the closest IKEA stores are in Calgary, Toronto and Minneapolis, and many Manitobans travel with the intent of visiting the store.

IKEA is a leading home furnishings retailer with 275 stores in 36 countries worldwide, which are visited by 522 million people every year. IKEA Canada has 11 stores which are visited by over 25 million people every year. Founded in 1943, IKEA’s business philosophy is to offer a wide range of products of good design and function at low prices so as to be affordable to a wide range of people.

Both the Mayor and Premier are excited about Ikea too. The Province of Manitoba and City of Winnipeg will work together to accelerate the widening of Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway to meet the timelines of a proposed new Winnipeg IKEA site, Premier Gary Doer and Mayor Sam Katz said today.

The premier said the province will advance its share of capital funding to the city of up to $8 million for the projects. The widening of Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway is already included in the city’s Plan Winnipeg, but would be accelerated to accommodate IKEA’s development plans, pending a public rezoning process and open house that will take place this spring.

“Advancing already scheduled infrastructure will help this project move forward,” said Doer.

“The city has worked diligently to create an ‘open for business’ environment that attracts growth and positive developments like IKEA,” said Katz. “By accelerating existing infrastructure plans, we are encouraging smart responsible development and I am thrilled to see this major retail project transform from talk to action.

Lots of exciting news on the IKEA Store Opening front this week! Are you excited? What are you most looking forward to?

[via winnipeg.ctv.ca]

Please note: Positive Fanatics is not affiliated with IKEA. Please direct all inquiries about job openings, positions available or hiring at IKEA to Jobs at IKEA

Sweden-based furniture chain Ikea is expected to announce today that it is planning to set up shop in Winnipeg.

A source, who asked not to be identified, confirmed Ikea is set to announce “something big” today involving a possible location for the store at Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway.

Rumours about the retail furnishings chain coming to the city have popped up a number of times in recent years. In late November, Ikea Canada said it was “looking at Winnipeg in a very serious manner”.

“We are taking a very serious look at the market and there is a specific piece of land we’re interested in,” spokeswoman Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick said at the time.

She could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Last month, she refused to identify the site and said there was “no immediate plan” for a store in Winnipeg. At the time, Premier Gary Doer confirmed the province had spoken with Ikea representatives.

Another source said approximately 20 City of Winnipeg employees are bound by non-disclosure agreements not to discuss Ikea’s plans for the city.

Rob Warren, executive director of the University of Manitoba’s Stu Clarke Centre for Entrepreneurship, said he was surprised to hear of today’s expected announcement.

“I don’t think this is the market for it, unless they have come up with another format style,” he said. “Those stores are huge and I just don’t know how this market is going to sustain it.”

Warren said Ikea stores in Canada appear to have annual sales of up to $153 million.

“I’d be absolutely amazed if you could do that in Winnipeg,” he said. “I would guess a large store in Winnipeg would be lucky to crack $100 million.”

A scaled-down store would be more likely to succeed, Warren said.

“But you’d have to scale it down a lot,” he said. “If you’re talking one of the full-scale ones, I don’t know how it’s going to survive. I just don’t.”

Fans of Ikea have been clamouring for a Winnipeg store for years. A group on the online social networking website Facebook called “Bring Ikea to Winnipeg” has more than 5,700 members.

Are you an IKEA Fan in Winnipeg? A member of the Facebook group, Bring IKEA to Winnipeg? We want to hear from you!

What are you most looking forward to? Grand opening? Lingonberries and meatballs? Smart, stylish furniture at affordable prices? Tell us!

[Via WinnipegSun.com]

IKEA Canada is offering a similar deal, only the voucher is good on purchases over $75.  Either way, if you’re going to be shopping at IKEA anyway (and who isn’t, really?) it’s an excellent deal and you’ll be helping reduce landfill waste.  Win-win-win!

[Found at Inventorspot]

IKEA Canada is having a Midnight Madness sale!  7pm until Midnight – Tonight, December 12, 2008, only!

Save up to 50% on items storewide with some limitations on quantities.  Sorry Québécois – IKEA Québéc is not open til midnight, but to make it up, they’re starting the sale at 5pm.

Have fun! No crushing people.