IKEA closing Bolingbrook store, moving to Naperville’s Block 59
IKEA is closing its Bolingbrook store and building a new, smaller version in Naperville’s Block 59 development.
“This relocation reflects how our customers are living, working and shopping across the broader Bolingbrook-Naperville corridor,” said Sam Gravina, Chicago metro market manager for IKEA. “By moving the shopping experience to Naperville, we are positioning IKEA closer to growing population centers while maintaining strong accessibility for existing Bolingbrook customers.”
The 317,000-square-foot, two-story Bolingbrook store will remain open until late 2027, which is also when the Naperville store is expected to open. It will be just eight miles away from the Bolingbrook location on Boughton Road, just off Interstate 355.
Naperville’s new IKEA store will be a small format store, a departure from the huge locations that have been the trademark for the Swedish furniture retail giant.
Gravina declined to share specifics on where exactly the new store will be located off Route 59, what it will offer or how large it will be other than to say it will be a “smaller format to more effectively meet the needs and shopping desires of the market” while still providing the “inspiration and functionality” of an IKEA experience with which customers are familiar.
“It will make the most of every square foot, offering a curated shopping experience with “local living” solutions tailored to reflect the surrounding communities’ unique needs, lifestyles and spaces,” Gravina said.
The idea is for the new store to complement the flagship, 450,000-square-foot operation in Schaumburg, about 30 minutes away from the Naperville location.
And though the new store will be smaller than both the Bolingbrook and Schaumburg locations, it will include a Swedish Deli and Swedish Food Market and sell the chain's iconic meatballs.
“Across the country, we are opening these new format stores in areas and shopping centers where we know our customers already are, providing them with additional access points in major markets,” Gravina said.
That includes a small store in Gurnee, which is slated to be about 66,000 square feet. The village offered $2 million in incentives to land the retail giant and is expected to generate $2.9 million in sales tax over six years, ensuring the village comes out about $900,000 ahead on the deal.
Outside of Illinois, IKEA already has opened multiple small-format stores this year, including locations in Culver City, California, and Phoenix, Arizona. But not all have been successful. Last month the company announced it would be closing a small-format store in San Marcos, Texas, on Nov. 1 after only a year in operation.
Earlier this week, news reports said three “plan and order with pickup” IKEA stores in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., were slated to close.
The company's presence in Naperville is likely to bolster the city’s home goods and furniture sales, an area that Mayor Scott Wehrli said at a June city council meeting was lagging compared to other sectors in Naperville’s economy.
“It’s not because we don’t have customers in our town. I think it’s clearly because our customers are shopping in other cities that have these types of stores,” he said at the time.
Naperville had $257 million in furniture and electronic sales last year, an increase of about 30.3% over 2024, placing it behind Glenview at $695 million and Schaumburg with $286 million, according to a report from Chicago-based consultant firm Melaniphy & Associates.
By comparison, Naperville — which is also considered the Chicago metropolitan area’s suburban retail mecca — was leading in multiple sales categories last year, including grocery, restaurant and bar, home improvement, automobile dealer and gasoline purchases.
At that June council meeting, Brixmor Property Group asked the Naperville City Council for an additional $1.85 million tax incentive to lure a home goods/furniture retailer to its Block 59 Business District, which was approved.
It is an extension of the business district created in 2023 to spur redevelopment of the Brixmor-owned properties: Westridge Court shopping center and the Block 59 restaurant/entertainment complex at Aurora Avenue and Route 59.
A special 1% tax is assessed on sales from the businesses located within the district and reimbursed to Brixmor to help cover the cost of infrastructure required by the new development.
Rich Dippolito, vice president of re/development for Brixmor, declined to name the home goods retailer at that meeting, but said the new tenant would “generate a lot of interest.”
The Naperville Sun was unable to confirm by deadline whether the new IKEA store is the home goods retail tenant connected to that $1.85 million tax incentive.
Last month, Dippolito said businesses were being shifted around the Westridge Court portion of the business district to make room for the home goods retailer. Businesses that were being moved included Discovery Clothing Co. and Going, Going, Gone!