IKEA has finally come to Barrie.
Kind of.
It's opened what it calls a Design Studio at Georgian Mall.
Mayor Jeff Lehman cut the ribbon Thursday. "So, you go in, and they help you design a room in your house. And then you can order the furniture online. And it's either delivered to your home, or there's a pickup point in Barrie."
Could it be a precursor to a full-blown Ikea store in Barrie?
Lehman doesn't think that'll happen anytime soon.
"They tend to space out their stores quite a bit in terms of population … if it's one store for every million or million-and-a-half people, we might have to wait a little. We're growing, but not that fast. We'll see."
The Barrie Design Studio is one of several Ikea is opening. Lehman says they liked Barrie for this, "because people come from the north and all of Central Ontario … to shop and to do other things. So it was a natural for them."
images: Jeff Lehman/Facebook
