San Marcos welcomed new Swedish neighbors this week with the grand opening of IKEA San Marcos. Instead of a 250,000 square foot blue building, IKEA has created a smaller, specialty selection store to meet the unique needs of the city, all within 38,000 square feet. The building, which hosted Hastings and Conn’s, now hosts IKEA’s small store concept, which is the first of its kind in Texas, located in San Mar Plaza at 917 TX-80. San Marcos residents can save the trip to the larger San Antonio location since all products in the IKEA catalog can be shipped straight to the 78666 store for pickup. Although the mini version offers less products in store, the IKEA team was able to squeeze in multiple displays, showcasing a wide variety of furniture and home goods.
“The biggest difference is the size and scale of the store,” said Keena Garcia, IKEA Live Oak and IKEA San Marcos Market manager. “This one is much easier to walk and shop, but the full range is still available for the customer to place an order. They can still do Click and Collect or they can have it delivered; all of the services are still available that you would get at a full size IKEA.”
The design team took into consideration the needs of San Marcos and Central Texans, designing vignettes to showcase solutions for the everyday needs of locals and college students. From vignette displays showcasing dorm or apartment layouts, to more family oriented living spaces, this IKEA is tailored to the town.
“Being around all the rivers in Central Texas, we have lots of solutions for customers to take home that help them organize their river rafts and toys, and [we have] lots of their slippers for the kids,” Garcia said.
The IKEA team celebrated the grand opening with an all day party on July 16. Guests started lining up at 11 p.m. the night before to secure their spot in line to try their shot at winning prizes. The first 100 children received a special IKEA stuffed animal while lucky adults walked away with IKEA furniture and home items. IKEA Family Members got extra perks during the grand opening event. The program is free to join and offers members updates on all things IKEA and access to events. Guest enjoyed a live performance from the San Marcos High School Mariachi band as well as a DJ throughout the day to keep the energy up.
Near checkout one can find a selection of Swedish snacks, but with the smaller size, the food court was not factored into the design. For meatball cravings, one can still take the trek to the bigger store in San Antonio.
The IKEA team is interested in feedback from the San Marcos community.
“Based on how the customer shops and what they tell us they want more or less of then we can adapt our range and make sure that we have everything available for the customer,” Garcia said. “ Our marketing team is always working on engaging the people who live here locally and the student population.”
One can visit the new store seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
