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IKEA theory: 'Do-it-yourself' creates loyalty, business

News Channel 8 photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

At 353,000 square feet, IKEA is the size of two Wal-Mart Supercenters.

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By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 1, 2009

TAMPA - To a brainy researcher, the cult of IKEA can be explained through psychology.

The Swedish retailer sells mountains of build-it-yourself furniture at modest prices, but the directions, famously, can be hard to comprehend.

"By the time you finish struggling with the instructions, you like it more," said Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University.

Ariely can't say whether IKEA does this intentionally but he's pretty confident in his theory, which he began formulating while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

On Wednesday , then, after a two-year build up, the shoppers of Tampa Bay go to work for IKEA.

Thousands of people a day are expected to walk through the massive new store at the corner of Adamo Drive and 26th Street. At 353,000 square feet, IKEA is the size of two Wal-Mart Supercenters.

It's hard to overstate the anticipation.

People will call in sick to work. Hundreds will camp outside overnight in hopes of winning an IKEA freebie. Children from a local Swedish cultural school will dance and sing.

Longer term, IKEA's impact will be far-reaching for Adamo Drive, downtown Tampa and the Bay area's retail scene.

Regional shopping mecca

The average customer is expected to linger in IKEA for at least three hours so visiting the store could become a weekend pastime for thousands of people on Florida's west coast.

Other stores may be able to match IKEA on certain categories of items, such as bedding or appliances, but no other store can match the volume of household items.

For example, one second-floor section is about the size of a CVS or Walgreens and is devoted exclusively to storage items, such as plastic storage bins and wire shelving units.

In another area, children can walk through a pint-sized archway to enter an area of overflowing alligator, hippo and hamster plush toys. Throughout the store are bins with stacks of low-price items, such as a set of five food saver bowls for $2.99 and a $7.99 wok, which are sure to please bargain hunters.

Unique to IKEA, shoppers will pick out most items in the store's showroom, and collect their items from the store's adjacent warehouse.

Through this week, 116 people had become members of the We Love IKEA Tampa fan club on Facebook, said club founder Kelly Hickman, while still more Bay are residents have joined a larger, global IKEA club on Facebook.

In e-mail interviews, Facebook IKEA fans raved about the store's space-saving furniture and organizers, cheap prices and assortment of rooms with interior design ideas.

"If you are willing to put furniture together yourself you get amazing deals," said Megan Warner, a student at Valencia Community College in Orlando, where an IKEA opened in fall 2007.

"In our living room our couch, coffee table, end table, and rug all are from IKEA, our dinning room chairs are from IKEA, and our PC desk is from Ikea."

Ken Bellotte, an Auburndale resident, is staying away from the opening-day chaos at the Tampa IKEA, but plans to visit soon after.

"A lot of their items are made for small spaces," he said. "Apartments, condos, and small houses get a lot more space from the compact and space saver items that they sell."

Economic development

Especially in downtown and Ybor City, many are hoping IKEA can generate sales for other businesses and even boost property values.

When IKEA announced it was coming two years ago, real estate brokers began approaching the owners of warehouses and industrial buildings surrounding the site, according to several nearby landowners. Speculation was that other stores would want to build near IKEA to capitalize on all the traffic it would generate.

So far, there hasn't been much evidence that IKEA has boosted nearby property values, said Tim Wilmath, who directs valuations for the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser. That may be because developers aren't building new retail projects in a recession.

However, a Colorado-based furniture chain called Furniture Row has already purchased land just east of IKEA for more than $4 million, or about $22 per square foot. That is a price retailers normally would pay to be near a regional mall, Wilmath said.

Jerry Epperson, a furniture industry analyst for the investment banking firm Mann, Armistead and Epperson, said despite its size and scope, IKEA won't necessarily steal away sales from other retailers.

"In almost every city they've gone to they've improved the demand for furniture among almost every other retailer," Epperson said.

In addition, local government officials are banking on some shopper psychology of their own: People visiting IKEA can be expected to make side trips to the shops and restaurants in Ybor City and Channelside Bay Plaza.

"Once you see IKEA you're going to be able to say, "Hey, I'm in Tampa. You've got Ybor on the right, IKEA on the left," said Tony Garcia, who handles Tampa planning for the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

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