IKEA Adds Phoenix to List of 10 New Stores Opening this Year

PHOENIX, AZ (March 16, 2026) — IKEA has included Phoenix, Arizona, on its list of 10 new U.S. locations opening this year, reinforcing the retailer’s continued expansion in the Valley with what will become its third Arizona location. The new store is planned for Village Square II, 4643 E. Cactus Road, near Cactus Road and Tatum Boulevard, in a strong north Phoenix trade area across from the former Paradise Valley Mall redevelopment.

Phoenix appears alongside Culver City, California; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Gurnee Mills, Illinois; Fort Collins, Colorado; Huntsville, Alabama; University Park, Texas; Rockwall, Texas; Chantilly, Virginia; and Webster, Texas on IKEA’s current list of stores expected to open this year. For Arizona, the addition further expands IKEA’s reach beyond its established Tempe store and its Scottsdale format.

Unlike IKEA’s traditional warehouse-style big-box model, the planned Phoenix location is a 75,000-square-foot small-format store. IKEA has said the location will offer about 3,000 take-home items and roughly 75 small furniture pieces for immediate purchase, while larger furnishings will be available for delivery or pickup through its omnichannel model. The concept reflects IKEA’s broader strategy of moving closer to customers in dense, high-traffic trade areas with smaller, more flexible store footprints.

From a real estate perspective, the Phoenix store highlights the kind of characteristics IKEA appears to value in its current expansion model. While the company does not publish a formal public checklist of store requirements, its site choices suggest a preference for large infill spaces, high-visibility arterial locations, strong surrounding rooftops and demographics, easy vehicle access, and centers that can support both walk-in traffic and order fulfillment. The north Phoenix site checks many of those boxes, placing IKEA in a mature trade area with strong household density and redevelopment momentum nearby.

The announcement also underscores a broader retail trend: nationally recognized brands are increasingly using smaller-format stores to penetrate established urban and suburban submarkets where a traditional full-size prototype may not be the best fit. In Phoenix, IKEA’s move adds another major retail draw to the north-central Valley, and signals continued confidence in the market’s long-term consumer growth.