The Swedish furniture store IKEA is announcing plans to build a new store in the San Antonio suburb of Live Oak. The company says it felt it was time to move into San Antonio area.
The store internationally known for Swedish meatballs and assembly required furniture will come to the city of Live Oak by mid-2019. IKEA spokesman Joseph Roth says the San Antonio area has a large enough customer base to build here.
“It’s a combination of the metropolitan area being ready but also us identifying the perfect site. We buy our land, we build our buildings, we were waiting for the perfect location and that’s what we think we found here.”
The store would be at Interstate 35 just inside Loop 1604. IKEA has 180,000 registered customer households in Bexar and surrounding counties that shop either at the existing Round Rock or Houston stores, or online. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff says the addition is a sign of San Antonio’s growing economy.
“This verifies us. They’re an upscale retailer. They don’t come here unless the economics drive you to come here. That’s what brings them here.”
San Antonio is a shopping destination for Mexican nationals who frequently visit the U.S. IKEA does not have a store in Mexico but Roth says they frequently get Mexican customers at other stores.
“Currently folks from Mexico are driving all the way up to Round Rock, so this is definitely a lot closer to the Mexican border.”
The company will bring about 250 jobs. The company has three stores in Texas and will also open a store in Grand Prairie next year. Construction on the Live Oak store will start in 2018.
