Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea made its long-rumored move to the north suburbs official Tuesday, announcing plans to open a new store at Gurnee Mills.
The 66,000-square-foot store — smaller than the massive full-size stores in Schaumburg and Bolingbrook — will open this fall in a portion of the former Sears Grand Store at the Gurnee shopping center, a mall official confirmed Tuesday.
It’s a “home run” for Gurnee, according to retail consultant John Melaniphy. The new concept store will attract consumers from a wide area and boost mall sales, said Melaniphy, a longtime industry expert and president of Melaniphy & Associates.
The new store will feature a central planning area with Ikea experts to assist customers in designing kitchens, bedrooms and other spaces.
Customers will have access to 3,000 items for immediate takeaway, including home furnishing accessories and about 600 small furniture items. Familiar offerings including meatballs, veggie dogs and cinnamon buns also will be available.
The village of Gurnee offered $2 million in incentives to land the retail giant. Even so, the village expects to come out $900,000 ahead over six years because Ikea is expected to generate $2.9 million in sales tax during that time.
“We appreciate the partnership that we have with Gurnee Mills that has invited Ikea to be a part of Gurnee’s family of stores,” Mayor Tom Hood said Tuesday.
In the past year, Texas Roadhouse, Ashley Furniture, Primark, Off the Rax and Sky Zone Trampoline Park have opened at Gurnee Mills and the surrounding ring, Hood noted.
He congratulated Gurnee Mills and village staff for their hard work keeping the mall filled with retail, restaurants and entertainment.
“Exciting times for Gurnee Mills,” he added.
The Gurnee Mills store will be Ikea’s third in Illinois, and part of the company’s goal of opening 10 new stores in the 2026 fiscal year. Other new locations announced include Tulsa, Oklahoma; Culver City, California; and Fort Collins, Colorado.
The Gurnee store will be about one-sixth the size of the Schaumburg location. Construction is expected to begin this spring, said Kelsey Castrejon, director of marketing and business development at Gurnee Mills.
The project calls for a $12 million private investment, roughly split between mall owner Simon Property Group and the new user.
Under a six-year redevelopment agreement with Gurnee Mills, the village will contribute up to $1 million toward the effort and rebate up to another $1 million in sales taxes.
Ikea is launching the smaller stores as a complement to its larger warehouse-type outlets, Jocelyn Gubler, vice president of development for Simon, previously told village officials.
The new stores were announced Tuesday as Ikea U.S. released its summary for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2025.