On Feb. 16, of this year Gurnee Mills announced that they will be opening an IKEA store in the upcoming fall of this year. Before then, they had a small mock up of IKEA in the mall for quite some time but haven’t made the announcement till recently.

IKEA will be located in the old now vacant Sears building, and will also opening in a few other places besides Gurnee.

IKEA is also excited to announce that they will be opening in Culver City, California; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Fort Collins, Colorado; and lastly Gurnee Mills, in Gurnee.

“Gurnee Mills Director of Marketing & Businesses development Kelsey Casterjoin said that IKEA will be tenant of the mall and will begin occupying a 66,000square foot space,” Woo-Sung Shim a writer for the Lake & McHenry County scanner says, “or the last 3rd, former Sears building starting next month”

Gurnee is beyond excited to have IKEA in their Mall, the mayor expressed how much of a “win” this will be and how great it’ll be for the town.

“I do like shopping at IKEA, It is a very big store.” Kyra Hannema said, a senior at MCHS “It has lots of fun stuff, pretty cheap stuff too. I heard their meatballs are very good, but I haven’t had the pleasure of eating them.”

According to the Lake & McHenry County scanner, Woo-sung shim says, “Gurnee Mayor Thomas Hood called the new store a “great win” for Gurnee and its surrounding area.”

The CEO of IKEA in the U.S. Rob Olson, stated that they will continue investing in the U.S., so IKEA can be more affordable, accessible and sustainable.

“‘Looking ahead to FY26, we will build on this momentum,” NBC News Chicago 5 news sourced,”focusing on continued investment in the U.S. to make IKEA more affordable, accessible and sustainable,’ Rob Olson, Interim CEO of IKEA U.S. said in the release.’”