L.A.’s Westside is lastly getting its first Ikea outpost.
The furnishings firm recognized for its Swedish meatballs and blocky “Kallax” shelving models has discovered a house contained in the outdated Helms Bakery advanced in Culver Metropolis.
The shop, slated to open this spring, can be its eleventh in California and is the corporate’s first “city-center” retailer in Los Angeles.
It would occupy a roughly 40,000-square-foot portion of quite a bit previously utilized by L.A. luxurious furnishings retailer HD Buttercup, which went out of enterprise final yr, stated Wally Marks III, proprietor of the Helms advanced.
Ikea selected to open a location in Culver Metropolis as a result of residents “spend a big period of time commuting and are more and more impacted by affordability challenges,” spokesperson Briana Lehman stated in an announcement.
“We’re bringing the IKEA expertise nearer to the place folks dwell, work, socialize, and store—simply in a smaller footprint,” Lehman stated.
The Helms constructing was chosen as a result of it’s a historic Los Angeles vacation spot recognized for its eating places and residential furnishings companies, Lehman stated.
The advanced has different furnishings shops, together with a Scandinavian Designs retailer, The Rug Warehouse and Room and Board.
The growth is a part of Ikea’s technique of opening smaller shops focusing on city clients.
Not like the bigger suburban shops in Burbank and Carson, this Ikea received’t have signature vibrant blue exterior partitions. The outside of the beloved Artwork Deco constructing received’t change, Marks stated.
There’ll, nevertheless, be showrooms with fully-furnished dwelling kitchens and bogs tailor-made for an area L.A. viewers.
In the meantime, not like the tiny 9,000-square-foot Ikea retailer that opened in Arcadia’s Santa Anita Mall in 2024, the Culver Metropolis location will characteristic a meals court docket.
In 2023, Ikea opened an 85,000-square-foot location in downtown San Francisco.
In 2025, Ikea U.S. reported $5.3 billion in gross sales, together with $1.9 billion in e-commerce gross sales, in keeping with an organization assertion.
Ikea U.S. interim Chief Government Rob Olson stated in the assertion that the corporate was in a position to develop in 2025 “regardless of a difficult exterior setting.”
In 2026, the corporate plans to “construct on this momentum, specializing in continued funding within the U.S. to make IKEA extra inexpensive, accessible and sustainable,” Olson stated. The corporate has set a objective of opening 10 new shops throughout its 2026 fiscal yr, which started in September.
The 11-acre Helms advanced is the previous dwelling of the Helms bakery, well-known for the butter yellow vans that after zoomed throughout Southern California delivering recent bread and for being an official provider for the 1932 Olympics – a distinction nonetheless proudly displayed on a rooftop signal.
The bakery shut down in 1969 as a result of the founder didn’t need his firm to unionize, The Instances as soon as reported. The Marks household actual property agency purchased the property in 1972 and turned it into a middle for dwelling furnishings and antiques.
A brand new model of Helm’s Bakery opened contained in the Helms Design District in November 2024 however closed in December as a result of lagging gross sales. That 14,000-square-foot lot has discovered its subsequent tenant, Marks stated.
No additional parking is being constructed for Ikea, however patrons can use the prevailing Helms Bakery tons throughout Venice Boulevard, Marks stated. The shop is a brief stroll from the Culver Metropolis mild rail station and bus strains, he stated.
