IKEA plans new US stores in $2.2 billion push to challenge Walmart and Wayfair

IKEA stores owner Ingka Group will spend 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) expanding in the United States over the next three years, its biggest investment in a single country, in a bet to win American customers as other big-box retailers close stores.

Sweden’s IKEA, which opened its first U.S. store in 1985, near Philadelphia, is seeking to win market share in the U.S. as cash-strapped consumers look for more affordable products.

“It is in all the states across the U.S. where we see opportunities, but I would say in particular the South, where we see big demand that we have not so far been able to respond to,” said Tolga Öncü, head of IKEA Retail at Ingka Group.

Ingka plans to open eight new big IKEA stores and nine smaller stores as well as upgrading existing stores in the U.S., which is IKEA’s second-biggest market by sales after Germany, the company said on Thursday.

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