Kingston-area customers of Ikea, the popular Swedish home-furnishing retailer, may no longer have to drive to Toronto, Montreal or Ottawa to do their shopping, as a collection point location for its products has just opened in Kingston.

The chain has 357 stores worldwide in 29 countries, including 13 in Canada.

It won’t be a store, but customers can order any Ikea item online (www.ikea.ca) and have it delivered to the Kingston location at 192 Hickson Ave.

The collection point is operated by Dicom, a third-party service.

The delivery charge will be $29 no matter the size of the purchase. Ikea will continue it’s home delivery service at $49.

Direct purchases from Ikea will not be available at the collection point.

“We are focused on creating an easy and affordable shopping experience, no matter how or when our customers choose to interact with Ikea,” Ikea Canada president Marsha Smith said in a statement. “The new collection point makes bringing Ikea products home much more convenient to our customers in the Kingston market.

“In such a large country, it is important for Ikea to offer a variety of solutions to make shopping easier for Canadians. Launching a collection point in Kingston is a natural next step that makes the brand even more accessible for local residents.”

Ikea opened a new store in Halifax last fall and will open a store in Quebec City in the summer and in London in the fall of 2019. Ikea Canada also operates six pickup and order point locations and 13 collection points in Canada in addition to the Kingston location. Ikea also plans to open new distribution centres in Richmond, B.C., and Beauharnois, Que.

imacalpine@postmedia.com

Twitter: @IanMacAlpine