Ikea has announced it is submitting plans to the City of Merriam, KS, for a Kansas City-area store that would increase the Swedish retailer’s presence in the Midwestern United States. The Midwest is a U.S. region where Ikea is relatively poorly represented.

The closest Ikea stores to the Merriam location are in Centennial, CO, Frisco, TX, Bloomington, MN, and Bolingbrook and Schaumburg, IL. Of course, shoppers anywhere in the country can shop from the Ikea catalog or online at ikea-usa.com.

Located eight miles southwest of Kansas City, the proposed 349,000-square-foot Merriam Ikea location lies along the eastern side of Interstate-35 on 18 acres to be purchased from DDR Corp.

Ikea Merriam would feature nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 inspirational room-settings and three model home interiors as has been the case with many of the retailers new stores. The store also would offer a supervised children’s play area and a 450-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties. Family-friendly features include a Children’s IKEA area in the showroom, baby care rooms, preferred parking and play areas throughout the store.

The retailer plans to construct one level of parking below the store, a two-level parking structure and establish spaces accessible at-grade to provide more than 1,200 parking spaces on-site. IKEA will evaluate potential on-site power generation to complement the renewable energy presence at 89% of its U.S. locations.

“We look forward to growing our Midwestern U.S. presence with Ikea Merriam,” said Ikea U.S. president Mike Ward.  “This store would bring the already 60,000 Kansas City-area customers a store of their own and would introduce other consumers in Kansas, Missouri and beyond to the unique Ikea product selection and family-friendly shopping experience.”