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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Dallas Morning News
Byline: Maria Halkias
Jul. 26--FRISCO -- It's just one store, but IKEA is sure to siphon attention and -- more important -- dollars from many competitors when it opens here Aug. 3.
That gigantic blue and yellow building is not just a furniture store. It's a mass-appeal retailer -- European-style -- with cheap, chic goods that reflect its twist on housewares, bedding, tabletop wares, decorative accessories, lighting, storage, seasonal goods and food.
Even so, many home furnishings competitors are happy to see IKEA.
Its bottom-priced, assemble-it-yourself furniture and sheer size make this Swedish store enticing enough to rattle cash registers and rally shoppers in its new U.S. markets.
"IKEA is an enormous traffic generator because they sell so many different products and they create so much interest in the furniture category," said Jeff Seaman, president and chief executive of Florida-based Rooms To Go Inc. "We like to be close to IKEA."
Rooms To Go, whose furniture fits traditional American tastes, has a store in the approval stage on State Highway 121 just east of IKEA.
"It's opening next summer," said Seaman. "I wish it were opening the...
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