You no longer have to go to Frisco for cult favorite furniture store

In less than two weeks, you won’t have to drive as far for Swedish meatballs and flat-pack furniture.

Ikea, the popular retailer, will open its Grand Prairie store on Dec. 13.

The new 293,000-square-foot store sits at the northeast corner of Interstate 20 and Texas 161. It will be IKEA’s second location in North Texas. The Frisco location has been open since 2005.

But this new Ikea won’t be the last — a Fort Worth store is expected to open during the summer of 2019.

That 289,000-square-foot store in Fort Worth will be built at the southwest corner of Interstate 35W and North Tarrant Parkway. The company has 44 stores in the U.S. and 390 in 48 countries, according to the Star-Telegram archives.

So why is Ikea so popular?

A June 2016 article in The Guardian said the store reflects the transient lifestyle of many of its customers, who are renting rather than owning.

“The reason Ikea is so successful is that it’s the exact opposite of self-expression,” Alison J Clarke, professor of design history at University Applied Arts Vienna told the Guardian. “It’s self-expression within a limited repertoire.”

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 10:31 AM with the headline "You no longer have to go to Frisco for cult favorite furniture store."