Holli Rathman was in her element strolling through Ikea's gigantic new store in College Park, browsing dozens of living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms - even partial model homes.
In a store bigger than three Wal-Marts combined, the 30-year-old graphic designer and mother of two had at her fingertips all of the 80,000 items the Swedish home furnishings retailer makes. She had already bought the Allerum sofa bed.
"This is awesome; there's lots of selection," said Rathman, a New Market resident who has furnished her entire house from Ikea because of "the design of the furniture, the contemporary looks and colors, and the price range."
The international furniture powerhouse had devotees such as Rathman in mind when it embarked on its latest strategy to expand more heavily in the United States, a plan that calls for clustering stores in key, proven markets.
The College Park store makes the Baltimore-Washington region one of four in North America with three or more Ikeas, joining Los Angeles, New York and Toronto. In this area, Ikea also has stores in White Marsh and in Woodbridge, Va.
At 371,000 square feet, the scale of Ikea's 16th U.S. store is mind-boggling. Occupying 30 acres on Route 1, it has 55 room displays, five model home displays depicting real life situations, a supervised play area that replicates a Swedish farmhouse and forest, a 420-seat cafeteria and 1,680 parking spaces. By the time it opened its door Wednesday morning, some 2,000 shoppers were waiting.
"We're getting better known, and have more brand recognition," said Paget Ingham, the store's manager. "It's a style that isn't everywhere else."
Ikea's "cluster" strategy represents a new direction for a chain that started out opening no more than one store in any given trade area. Ikea expected - and got - customers to drive an hour or more for its mostly contemporary furnishings that promised to be functional and stylish. Many fit into a box that could be carted away in a trunk or tied to a car roof.
Now, as its affordable brand and family-oriented stores have gained popularity in a stalled economy, Ikea says it is looking to garner economies of scale, encourage more frequent visits from customers traveling shorter distances and ease congestion at existing stores. That, in turn, should convince shoppers at older stores to shop more often and stay longer, the company says.
