For more than a year, locals have been passing word that IKEA was planning a Simpsonville location, but officials with the Sweden-based retail store say there are no plans in place to build here.
“At this time, we do not have plans to build in that area,” IKEA public affairs manager Joseph Roth said.
Roth said the company is always in discussion about potential opportunities, but they are currently not planning a location for the Louisville region.
“At this time, it’s just speculation,” he said.
Roth expressed great familiarity with the area, noting Simpsonville’s location between Louisville and Lexington and that it’s just an hour and a half from their West Chester, Ohio store that serves the greater Cincinnati area.
Unfortunately, that proximity, he said, is an issue for a potential Simpsonville location.
Stuart Flowers, the manager of Trio Property, which owns the 80-acre parcel across Buck Creek Road from The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass, said he has held discussions with IKEA officials in the past and he, too, was told it was too close to the Ohio location to be competitive in both markets.
Flowers’ property, along with the site of the Simpsonville flea market, is often at the heart of the IKEA rumors.
He said he has spoken with IKEA officials within the last six to nine months and a Simpsonville build in the near future does not seem likely.
“We did a lot of research,” Flowers said. “We had a group finally reach out to them and, touch base, and they said this market is just too small.”
Roth echoed that statement, saying that while it is always flattering to be the talk of the town, it will take more than just admiration to bring an IKEA to Simpsonville, it will take a major population boost.
“[IKEA’s] market is between four and seven million [people],” Flowers said. “The most we can offer is between two and three million. And then you look on the map at all the [regions with] four to seven million in population that are still exposed with no IKEA and there’s a lot of them.”
But like many optimistic residents, Flowers is still holding out hope.
“That’s not to say they are not coming…but why would they put one right here when there’s one right north of Cincinnati,” he said. “That’s what they told us.
“Unless they’ve secretly negotiated a deal here, but it’s not with us. I love IKEA, I’d love for there to be a store out there.”
“That doesn’t mean they are not coming. Isure hope that one of the other landowners is negotiating with IKEA. But at least with us, they are not.”
But the rumors keep on flowing, Flowers said, and he’s not sure it’s not happening somewhere.
“Where there’s smoke there’s fire and there’s a lot of smoke with people talking about it,” he said.
Simpsonville mayor Steve Eden said he’s heard the stories, as well.
“We’ve been hearing that rumor over the last two years, but we have nothing really concrete going on over there,” he said.
Eden attributed the boom in IKEA speculation to the success of the outlet center and their recent expansion, as well as the construction activity at the flea market and the widening of Buck Creek Road.
Eden said, however, that while there are no plans in place for an IKEA build, there is growth on the horizon.
“We know there’s a lot of people coming…but everything is really hush-hush now because they don’t want land prices to go up,” he said.
Flowers said while they are no longer in discussion with IKEA, other plans are in the works.
“Our contact with them was severed and we haven’t pursued or called them back,” he said. “But our fingers are crossed that we can get some of these [other] things inked…but we’ve got to jump over a few more hurdles.”
Flowers said he has been working with several potential businesses for a while now.
“With one we’ve been negotiating back and fourth for seven or eight months,” he said. “So it hasn’t been a quick process.”
Flowers would not share any names of potential companies, but did express that another long held Shelby County rumor, Target, was not one of them.
“They really put a hold on all expansion after that breach,” he said.
“We were talking to Target, but that rocked ‘em…they stopped all discussions,” he said, explaining any negotiations for new construction across the nation were immediately halted and several stores closed after a data breach in their system in December 2013 cost the company nearly $150 million.
“It was bad timing,” Flowers said. “Our discussions were severed.”
Flowers said, however, that he’s excited about the businesses he’s currently in negotiations with.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to announce something soon,” He said. “Right now I can’t tell you who they are…[but] they are good users for the property.”
via Bursting the IKEA-to-Simpsonville bubble | SentinelNews.com.
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