Las Vegas IKEA considered ‘mid-size’ by company standards

The much anticipated Las Vegas IKEA store opened to crowds of shoppers May 18, but View got a sneak peek a week before the grand opening took place.

Wear your walking shoes: The two-story store covers 351,000 square feet, considered “mid-sized” by IKEA standards.

On the edge of Summerlin, the giant blue building is hard to miss at the Durango Drive exit of the 215 Beltway. Store manager Amy Jensen said it was the perfect spot.

“What we call our primary target area is usually a 60-mile drive, but in Las Vegas, we have a lot of people in quite a condensed area, so we’re going to have a lot of people coming from even closer,” she said. “When we chose Las Vegas, we had it on our radar for quite a while. One of the criteria is that the area includes 2 million people, and we hit that point. Then we looked for a great site, and luckily this one was for sale, right off the 215, at Sunset and Durango, a super-hot location.”

There are more than 40 room settings, showing one how different elements fit together, and each one with a different style and feeling. To let shoppers get a full-house feel, five apartment-like settings were built and staged, much like touring a model home but without working plumbing.

Everywhere around the store are signs noting designers and suppliers with foreign names: Sundvik, Knagglig, Enudden and Radviken. Even some of the books on the shelves of the room settings appear to be written in languages other than English, furthering the international essence. The various departments show items that can be picked up in the warehouse by matching an item’s tag number to an aisle and bin location.

Jensen said the variety that IKEA offers is probably the most unique aspect to shopping there.

“There’s really something for everyone, no matter what style you have,” she said. “We have college kids who come in; we have empty nesters who come in. It’s not for a small niche (segment of society).”

The lighting department included lamps with built-in plug-ins for recharging a cellphone and a globe that exploded open much like the Death Star from “Star Wars.”

Jensen, whose 20-plus years with the company began when she worked at an IKEA in Germany, noted that the company came from an area that doesn’t see a lot of sunshine for parts of the year.

“Who better to know what great lamps to have to brighten (things) up?” she asked.

Jensen said the average shopper spends two hours at the store, one of the reasons it has an eating area seating more than 400 diners.

The Las Vegas IKEA employs roughly 300 people, with about 75 percent of those jobs going to locals, according to Jensen.

Michelle, who did not want her last name used, filled one of them. She said she’d been looking for work for six months before she was hired by IKEA. She formerly worked in loss prevention and retail and said she was excited to open the store here, especially since it was near her home.

“I wanted something new, something busy to keep me on my feet,” she said. “I’ve been to one (an IKEA) before, so I was thrilled to get one here. … They encourage you to voice your opinion and be open with communication and be part of a team. It’s a family environment.”

The store is all about mixing and matching: pick your hardware, pick your wood door panels or choose a mirror door option or one with a slider panel that can hold a poster or fabric. It’s also about using space to the best advantage.Drawers aren’t just drawers — shallow ones are lined with felt to hold jewelry, and deep ones can be outfitted with space dividers to separate items. Some come with recessed lighting, and most have soft-close hardware.

The children’s area includes a play kitchen; pop-up tents; nylon tunnels; rocking chairs made to look like reindeer; stuffed animals; crayons; a dress form for future fashionistas; and canopy shells for headboards should a child desire a theme, such as the circus, for his room.

Jensen said a pets’ section is also planned.

Underneath each departments’ eye-pleasing appeal is the company’s tendency to recycle and repurpose. There are no plastic take-home shopping bags, for example. Spend 99 cents for a fabric bag to bring back on your next shopping trip, or bring your own bag from like-minded stores such as Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. There are plastic shopping bags on the showroom floor for small items, but that bag is surrendered at the checkout stand.

The store also uses only LED lighting, and its roof supports 3,650 solar panels for electric needs. Its in-store features come from eco-minded companies that recycle or repurpose material. The store’s doormats, for example, were made from carpet that once covered an entire room.

IKEA is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays. The restaurant is open from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sundays.

Visit ikea.com.

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.