Is IKEA Coming to El Paso?

The Fountains at Farah is on track for its projected October/November grand opening, but far only a handful of retailers have been confirmed. Many more, however, are rumored to be coming. One currently circulating story has IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, opening a store at the Fountains.

So is IKEA, known and loved worldwide for its ready-to-assemble furniture, appliances, and home accessories, coming to El Paso? The short answer is no.

El Paso Inc. recently reached out to the company about the possibility and was told “IKEA currently has no plans for a store in the El Paso area.” Not now, and probably not ever. The number one criteria for the company is a metropolitan area with a population of at least two million people and since the U.S. Census Bureau defines our metro area as consisting of El Paso and Hudspeth county, all those people with wallets in Juarez and Las Cruces don’t count.

So far, the following stores have officially announced they will open a store in the center: Dick's Sporting Goods, Nordstrom Rack, Jared The Galleria of Jewelry, Barnes & Noble, T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, PetSmart, and BestBuy.