When will IKEA open at Destiny USA? Even the mall walkers want to know

Syracuse, NY — IKEA is getting closer to opening a store at Destiny USA, a company official told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

IKEA has hired people for nearly all the 46 positions needed for the store, said Scott Kay, who will oversee operations at the Syracuse site. He said there are still a couple of open jobs to be filled.

The new workers already are being trained at a temporary office in Syracuse, Kay said.

But no workers have been inside the former At Home space in the mall, which is being converted to the IKEA store.

“I haven’t even seen the inside of the site,” Kay said. “It’s off limits because of construction.”

For now, Kay said, he said he doesn’t have a target date for opening, beyond the fall timeline originally announced last summer.

Kay said he’s aware that people are enthused about the coming store.

“Even the mall walkers are trying to see what’s going on inside,” said Kay, who also oversees a store in Paramus, New Jersey.

IKEA announced in July it plans to open in Syracuse.

The store will be in the former At Home store, which is more than 80,000 square feet.

This IKEA will be smaller than the massive stand-alone stores near Toronto, Boston and New York City. The mini-IKEA is one of about 50 IKEA has opened to make the products more accessible to more people.

The Syracuse location won’t have all the warehouse space and large items customers can take off the shelves and take home. The restaurant will be smaller. But there will be a dozen showrooms displaying thousands of items so customers can design a room, Kay said previously.

The store also will have an As-Is department that sells discontinued items and “gently used” products. And it will have a central planning area for designing kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.