Ikea in Oak Creek scheduled to open May 16

Wisconsin's first Ikea store will debut in Oak Creek on May 16, the Swedish company said Thursday.

The 9 a.m. grand opening will come less than a year after Ikea, best known for its assemble-it-yourself furniture and in-store Swedish restaurant, officially broke ground for the 293,000-square-foot retail facility.

“We are thrilled by the construction progress to date, and believe we can complete the remaining milestones and interior build-up by May. Besides furnishing our store, we are also focused on recruiting and training all of our coworkers joining the Ikea family,” Samantha Gravina, store manager, said in a statement Thursday.

Ikea held a ground-breaking ceremony for the Oak Creek store, which is built on 29 acres along W. Drexel Ave. near I-94, on June 29. Some of the infrastructure for the site already had been completed at that time.

Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz said, "The general public is very excited about Ikea."

"They’re anticipating visitors from all over the state, so this really is a regional draw that's going to raise all boats, not just Oak Creek," he said in an interview Thursday. "Everybody on the south shore and southeastern Wisconsin is going to benefit from people coming down and doing their shopping and visiting the area."

The store will employ about 300 workers and still is hiring. It's the 48th in the U.S., and means southeast Wisconsin residents no longer will have to travel to the Chicago suburbs of Schaumburg or Bolingbrook to shop in person at Ikea.

The Oak Creek Ikea will stock about 10,000 products. It will feature a supervised children's play area, 50 room display settings with decorating ideas, and a 350-seat restaurant serving Swedish meatballs with lingonberries along with other fare.

RELATED: Manager provides sneak peek at Ikea store in Oak Creek

The company said in a news release that customers can begin lining up at the store at 5 a.m. May 16. It said grand opening plans and promotions would be available soon at IKEA-USA.com/OakCreek.

The Ikea parking lot will have about 1,000 spaces.

In some cities, grand openings by Ikea have created heavy auto traffic, but Bukiewicz said company and city officials already are at work coming up with plans to lessen traffic disruptions. He said Ikea has hired a consultant specifically to address that issue.

"We're trying to minimize the impact to the area as much as possible," Bukiewicz said. "They've been successful in other parts of the country on opening, so we're hoping that we experience the same success in Oak Creek when they open."