Monday, October 7, 2019

In Case You Missed It: Ikea's First Queens Store Will Be In Rego Park


The awesome Swedish furniture store chain Ikea has chosen the former Sears location at Rego Center on Queens Blvd. for its first location in the borough. As a proud, carless New York City resident, I, for one, am very excited about having an Ikea so close by to Forest Hills. I cannot wait. There's a ragged old sofa and several other pieces of furniture I've been wanting to replace! (I also have a thing for their meatballs.)

Read more about it here: Ikea will open a new NYC store at Rego Center in Queens And see below for the full press release.

And thanks to the readers who reminded me to post something about this! We've been a little swamped as of late, so apologies for not getting to it sooner.

Along those lines, we're always looking for new contributors to Edge of the City. No experience necessary. If you are a local resident and like to write about your neighborhood, drop us a line at edgeofthecity@gmail.com


NEXT STOP FOR IKEA… QUEENS, NY

IKEA continues on its transformation journey to meet city customers with a new store concept

CONSHOHOCKEN, P.A. – IKEA Retail U.S. announced today a new store coming to the Rego Center in Queens in summer 2020. The future IKEA Queens is the first store to open in the U.S. with a new layout and will support a seamless omni-channel experience for customers. It will feature thousands of IKEA products for purchase and takeaway, while larger furniture items will be on display and available for convenient delivery.

“It’s an exciting time for IKEA as we enter this next phase of our expansion into major cities in the U.S.,” said Javier QuiƱones, President & Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA Retail U.S. “We are passionate about life at home and energized by the opportunity to collaborate with New Yorkers to create a new experience that is both easy to access and shop.”

IKEA Queens will open in the Rego Center at the corner of Queens Boulevard & Junction Boulevard across 115,000 sq. ft. of leased space. The store will offer customers a full range of services, such as home delivery, assembly and installation, in addition to a new food offering to allow guests to enjoy a modern taste of Sweden on the go. It will also feature family-friendly, rest-interactive spaces to accommodate guests with children.

“With a growing community of more than 900,000 households, Queens was a natural next destination for IKEA in New York City,” said Leontyne Green Sykes, Chief Operating Officer, IKEA Retail U.S. “We know that more than half of Queens’ residents travel via public transportation, and we selected Rego Park for this new store concept to meet the unique needs of this customer.”

Globally, IKEA is evolving to be more accessible and convenient for customers wherever they are. The company recently announced the development of 30 new customer meeting points in cities over the next three years. The Queens store will be the third location in New York City and sixth in the area, complementing the new Planning Studio in Manhattan (opened April 2019) and stores in Brooklyn, Elizabeth, Long Island and Paramus.

IKEA Retail U.S. has made significant investments to enhance its e-commerce experience and service offerings, including new lower priced shipping & delivery, Click & Collect, financing, Traemand kitchen installation and TaskRabbit assembly services. To support delivery to New York City customers, IKEA opened a customer fulfilment center in Staten Island to deliver products to customers in the market. The facility also has a goal of completing 100% of shipments by electric vehicle by 2020, as part of the global IKEA commitment to sustainability.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

New French Restaurant Opening in Forest Hills

I am not quite sure of the specifics, and whether this place will be another French bakery or an actual restaurant, but this cute spot is coming in a few weeks to 71st Road. I think, but am not sure, it's in the location where the cleaners that moved across the street used to be. Anyway, I am impressed by the look of the place and look forward to learning more! Email edgeofthecity@gmail.com if you have any additional details!



The Land of Secret Salads

Long-term readers of this blog will know that I've been advocating for more places that offer quick, healthy food options in Forest Hills for quite some time. My hopes reached a pinnacle several years ago when I was contacted by one of the make-your-own salad chains with many stores in Manhattan about their interest in finding a suitable location in our neighborhood. Their interest lasted several months before they apparently gave up. I was never told why.

Since then, the availability of such healthier fare has come in fits and starts in Forest Hills. And now, the latest incarnation of it is rather clever, in my opinion. 

Since we did have a couple of small independent dedicated make-your-own salad restaurants open and then close several years ago, it seems either by strategy or just by coincidence this food option is now seeing a resurgence along Austin Street, albeit tucked away as often hard-to-discover parts of pre-existing businesses. It seems these store owners are not quite ready to trust Forest Hills residents at wanting much more than the calorie-laden pastries or ethnic cuisines that we are overflowing with. Thus, we all live in New York City's only Land of Secret Salads. The option is being offered by these places, often shyly and quietly, without the risk of financial failure that comes with a standalone shop. 

The latest option to join Natural's make-your-own salad bar, and other pre-made salad options available from the coffee shops, diners, Ripe and La Boulangerie, is a bit bolder, however. It even has its own name and sign!

I-CE-NY, the ice cream place next to Shake Shack on Austin Street, is now apparently also "efresh", offering a variety of soups, wraps, bowls, smoothies, and yes, customizable, make-your-own salads. I recently tried one of these salads and it was great - nice and fresh and tasty.  It's an extremely clever move by I-CE-NY, and I think they might just find it ends up eclipsing their ice cream business, as the demand for healthier food options remains quite high in Forest Hills. I discovered the place by finding their menu at NYSC. Another smart move to put it there so fit-conscious local residents can learn about it. (It would have been even smarter, by the way, if they had contacted their local blog, Edge of the City at edgeofthecity@gmail.com, but that's another story.) Kudos to I-CE-NY for understanding what Forest Hills really needs and being smart enough to provide it!