Oct. 26, 2022 By Max Murray
The popular Swedish homeware and furniture store IKEA is closing its Rego Park store in December—less than two years of being in operation.
IKEA Queens, which opened a 115,000 square foot space within the Rego Center shopping mall in January 2021, announced today that it was closing the location at the end of the year. The news was first reported by the Commerical Observer.
The store was IKEA’s third to open in New York City, after a 17,500 square foot store opened on the Upper East Side in 2019 and the massive Red Hook, Brooklyn store opened in 2008.
However, the Upper East Side store—dubbed the “Planning Studio”— closed at the end of last year, which was attributed to low foot traffic and high rent, Patch reported at the time. With the closure of the Rego Park store, IKEA will be left with just the Red Hook store.
The company, when it made the announcement that it was opening in Rego Park, said it was attracted to the mall given its proximity to public transportation. The center is served by the E, M and R subway lines and by several bus lines.
The store features thousands of IKEA products available to purchase and take home, with larger furniture items on display and available for delivery. It also offers Swedish cuisine and family-friendly spaces for shoppers with children.
4 Comments
how are they able to do that? the leases are usually at least a decade long. are they buying out their lease? that seems like a waste of money.
So…whats the reason IKEA is closing in Rego Park ? left me wondering as to what happen ?
Most likely, it wasn’t a profitable operation. The article says the high rent for that location is a big issue. I’ve been there a few times and it wasn’t ever busy.
I shopped there a few times. It was okay but not as exciting as my previous trips to the larger store on Long Island. Carrying stuff home on the bus is always an issue. Too bad, I like IKEA products.