Ikea still plans to open San Antonio-area store after pulling out of North Carolina location

The 289,000-square-foot store at the intersection of Loop 1604 and Interstate 35 will open in early 2019, Ikea said in August. The 289,000-square-foot store at the intersection of Loop 1604 and Interstate 35 will open in early 2019, Ikea said in August. Photo: Courtesy File /San Antonio Express-News Photo: Courtesy File /San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 62 Caption Close Ikea still plans to open San Antonio-area store after pulling out of North Carolina location 1 / 62 Back to Gallery

Breathe easy, San Antonio: you’re still getting your Ikea — complete with meatballs and baffling-to-assemble furniture — despite the Swedish furniture giant pulling out of a planned store in North Carolina.

The popular furniture chain nixed plans Wednesday to build a store in Cary, North Carolina near Raleigh, The News & Observer reported. Ikea told the Observer that the company is cutting back on some of its expansion aims in favor of other strategies.

The San Antonio region, though, will still get the maze-like warehouse store filled with Billy bookcases, Lack tables and rite-of-passage furniture.

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Ikea’s planned 289,000-square-foot store in Live Oak at the intersection of Loop 1604 and Interstate 35 is not part of that cutback strategy, Ikea spokeswoman Latisha Bracy said in an email.

Wednesday’s decision regarding Cary, North Carolina “does not affect the future Live Oak store in any way,” Bracy said.

Ikea broke ground on the highly-anticipated store in March. Bracy said the location is scheduled to open in spring 2019.

Residents in the San Antonio area have been awaiting the store. A photo posted to the San Antonio subreddit showing an Ikea sign on a flatbed truck — presumably headed to the new San Antonio store — got more than 300 “upvotes.”

The anchor store, expected to employ 250 people, will anchor an additional 500,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and other commercial operations at Live Oak Town Center, a mixed-use project being developed by by The Weitzman Group, a Dallas commercial real estate firm.

Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports