Cheektowaga, N.Y. (WBEN) - The world's largest and one of the more popular furniture retail stores is set to take shop in Western New York come next year.
Plans were announced Monday for IKEA to open at the Walden Galleria in the lower level of the former Sears and Sears Auto space at the shopping center’s North end. IKEA says guests can expect the full experience, including their signature showroom, marketplace, and the Swedish Bistro - complete with its iconic Swedish meatballs.
It is anticipated the store will open at the mall sometime in the early-to-mid portion of 2027.
The closest IKEA locations outside of Western New York are in Burlington, Ontario - a little more than hour across the Canadian border - and more than two hours down the New York State Thruway in Syracuse.
For many local patrons of IKEA, the news of a store opening up closer to home in Cheektowaga is certainly exciting.
"I have been shopping at IKEA for 10, 15 years, and I either have to go to Toronto or Pittsburgh, or I used to live in Virginia. I think I've even gone to another one passing through in New Jersey, so they're everywhere around, but it's just not conveniently here," said Melanie while phoning in to WBEN on Monday.
"My wife loves Ikea. Toronto is the closest one, so she used to go there," added Kyle with WBEN. "During COVID, they shut down the border, so we couldn't go there. So she had me drive her to the Pittsburgh one, which is three hours [away]. That was my first time there, and I was like, 'Are you serious? We gotta go? OK, alright.' I actually enjoyed it when I got there. I was shocked. It was a nice store, very nice, a little bit of everything for your home. I've gotten quite a bit, bought different things."
The excitement of a new IKEA store also spreads to local leaders in the region like Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Brian Nowak.
"We had 67,000 square feet of retail space on the lower floor of that old Sears, so to see that put to use, that is going to attract customers not just from Cheektowaga or from Erie County, but from the wider region. It is a beautiful thing," said Nowak in an interview with WBEN.
State Assemblyman Pat Chludzinski also feels this is very beneficial news for Cheektowaga and the surrounding region.
"We all know what an important economic engine the Walden Galleria Mall is not just for my Assembly district, but all of Western New York. This mall creates jobs, it contributes to our property tax base, it pays school district taxes, and attracts economic activity from outside of our region. So Ikea coming here is very exciting. It bodes well for the continued long-term success of the mall," said Chludzinski with WBEN.
Chludzinski is happy to see the mall being able to attract a big market store like IKEA, and feels it will bring all kinds of visitors in to do more than shop at that one store.
"They eat at our restaurants, they buy gasoline locally, they patronize neighborhood businesses. So this is great news to lift the entire Cheektowaga commercial corridor," Chludzinski said. "This additional sales tax revenue for the county, it can fund infrastructure projects, it's more revenue for our region. It's just great to see, and we're very excited that they made that announcement today."
"We all know that the closest IKEA was either Burlington or in Syracuse. This should draw shoppers from other areas to increase revenue in the Town of Cheektowaga, and it just doesn't impact the IKEA store. Those shoppers will be here shopping at other stores, going to our local restaurants. It's a major draw, and it's great news for the Town of Cheektowaga."
Nowak feels the Walden Galleria will continue to operate as normal, even with an anticipated influx of people patroning a store like IKEA.
"The occupancy in the Galleria Mall has been around 90% or higher in recent years, and with having a new anchor store come in to join Primark and to join Best Buy and Dick's Sporting Goods and Macy's and the others, it really bodes well for the Galleria Mall as a whole," Nowak said.
"I think it's a vote for confidence in the Galleria Mall and what's happening there. It's the largest indoor shopping mall in Western New York, and at this point, it's the last mall standing in Erie County. And it's going to be a draw initially. I think it's going to be less of a draw over time, but it's definitely going to be one of those things that bring people to our region, bring people to the Town of Cheektowaga."
With stores like IKEA and Costco deciding to take up shop locally, is that even more attractive for other popular retailers to look to Western New York to do business down the road?
"Now that we have another large chain store that attracts visitors from other areas, you're likely to see other retailers come in to the Galleria, and that's what we want to see," Chludzinski said. "We want to see it grow, it flourish. It's important to our economy in this area, and this is a step in the right direction."
Meanwhile, Nowak feels these popular stores have always looked at investing in the region, but are only now just starting to make the move.
"We've had some population growth in the last census, and it's worth pointing that out, but I don't think this is necessarily anything new. I do think it's something exciting, I think it's something great," he said. "We lost Sears many years ago and the questions came about, 'What are we going to do with that space?' Now we have a good quality answer to that."
IKEA currently has 59 locations spread across the United States, and another 15 in Canada.
