A quick quiz: What does Tempe (Arizona), Carson (California) West Chester (Ohio), Conshocken (Pennsylvania), Round Rock (Texas), Draper (Utah), Stoughton (Massachusetts) have that St. Louis doesn't?
Or, put another (statewide) way: California has eight; Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas each have three, and Illinois has two but Missouri has exactly zip? Name that store.
Answer: IKEA. The closest one to St. Louis is hours away—a day trek to Bolingbroke or Schaumburg, Illinois. And as nice as road trips can be, we would prefer to be able to shop on a whim. When we are in the mood for some fun, ever-so-Swedish designs, we don't want to have to get up at dawn and spend the night in another state.
So, we have STARTED A PETITION. And if you too long for an IKEA to call your own, we urge you to sign it. ASAP.
Click on http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ikeainstlouis/.
Email your friends. Call your relatives. Nudge your neighbors.
Come on team. Let's rally around and get an IKEA in our town!
From what I've been told, Ikea has very stringent site selection requirements (i.e. very close to an interstate exit and lots of parking - very suburban for a store that is adored by urbanites), and nobody has been able to assemble that kind of land in the area.
Posted by: Hilary Perkins | June 23, 2009 at 12:56 PM