Is IKEA Coming to West El Paso?

You might have heard that IKEA is coming to El Paso, but don’t get too excited just yet. At this point it’s only in the wishful thinking stage.

The rumor got started after the weekly newspaper El Paso Inc. posted an article regarding all of the current and future development going on in Northwest El Paso around the Outlet Shoppes at El Paso area.

The paper spoke with Jose Gonzalez of West Retailer, an El Paso real estate development company, who wants to develop 115 acres of land by Transmountain and I-10.

Gonzalez told El Paso, Inc. he’s in talks to acquire the land and develop the majority of it for commercial use, including restaurants and retail stores. One of the stores he hopes to attract is the Swedish furniture giant, IKEA.

He declined further comment other than to say he and his partners were “working with IKEA” and that it “is not a sure deal.”

That doesn't sound very promising at all, does it?

IKEA has been rumored to be coming to El Paso before. There was talk in 2013 that it would be one of The Fountains at Farah anchor stores. When reached for comment, the company responded at the time that El Paso was not on its radar.

Largely in part because IKEA' s number one site selection criteria is a metropolitan area with a population of at least two million people. Per the U.S. Census Bureau, the El Paso metro area has less than 850,000 people.

So for now and the foreseeable future, if you want to decorate your home with a Billy bookcase or a Poäng chair you'll have to drive west to Tempe, Arizona or east to Round Rock, Texas.