Rego Park Ikea will open this month

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Ikea will open a store in Rego Park this month. Photo courtesy of IKEA

Ikea will open a store in Rego Park this month. Photo courtesy of IKEA

By Rachel Vick

An Ikea once scheduled to open at Rego Center mall last summer will finally begin serving customers this month after a lengthy COVID-related delay, the company said Tuesday. 

The 115,000 square-foot Rego Park branch will be smaller than Ikea’s traditional massive warehouses, but will still sell furniture, homegoods, bedding and, yes, Swedish meatballs. The store will feature model rooms that mimic real — and often cramped — apartment conditions.

“Every detail was created with the unique needs of New Yorkers in mind, from the proximity to public transportation and delivery and assembly options, to the wide product range curated specifically to meet their dynamic lifestyles," IKEA Queens Marketing Manager Shahab Mollaei, Market Manager.

The store is smaller than the blue behemoth on the Red Hook waterfront, but larger than Ikea’s Manhattan “planning studio,” and will enable customers to order home delivery of larger items.

Design staff will help customers plan out their kitchens, dining rooms and bedrooms, Ikea said.

But the famous food court will be closed as a result of the COVID pandemic.

The Ikea will fill space left over by the closures of the Rego Center Sears and Toys R Us. 

Queens Community Board 6 members embraced the Ikea when it was first announced last year. 

“I’m ecstatic to have this further the Queens economy — we expect them to be a good community partner,” Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Galluscio last year. “Nobody likes empty stores.”

Ikea said it chose the Rego Park site because of its proximity to public transportation in a borough of nearly 1 million homes. 

“Queens was a natural next destination for IKEA in New York City,” said Ikea USA Chief Operating Office Leontyne Green Sykes. “We know that more than half of Queens’ residents travel via public transportation, and we selected Rego Park for this new store concept to meet the unique needs of this customer.”