IKEA to open full-size store in Dartmouth Crossing
Posted Jan 22, 2016 09:59:48 AM.
Last Updated Jan 22, 2016 12:14:42 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – IKEA is opening a full-store in Dartmouth Crossing with the retail giant expected to break ground this summer and open their doors 14 to 16 months later.
The 328,000 square foot building will include a restaurant, market hall, showroom and a playland, the company announced on Friday.
The store is expected to bring 500 jobs, directly and indirectly, to the Halifax-area and the company expects this to be the most sustainable store in the country, with a heavy focus on energy efficiency and waste management.
Mayor Mike Savage said the move is a big win for local economic activity and confidence in the area.
“It’s a boost for the economy and it’s also recognition that this marketplace is strong enough to sustain a store of this size,” Savage said, with the jobs added to the area the main centrepiece.
“They’re not low-end retail jobs, I’ll think they’ll be a lot of people interested in working for IKEA, a company that seems to really respect its employees and the environment.”
Liberal MLA Joachim Stroink said he also expects it to help be an engine for the local economy.
“It shows confidence in our economy….there’s a lot of great things happening in Nova Scotia and this helps solidify that,” he said.
IKEA president and CEO Stefan Sjostrand said the company has considered Halifax a key to the company’s expansion for a long time, as now it has coverage in markets from coast-to-coast.
The store will mark the first of the company’s planned expansion across the country announced in November, with plans to double the number of stores in Canada over the next decade from 12 to 24.
