This Is How Wisconsin’s New IKEA Store Will Be Different

For years, an Oak Creek store near Milwaukee was the only option for Wisconsin residents who wanted to shop at IKEA in person. That is about to change. Wisconsin is getting a second IKEA, and this one will look very different from the one Wisconsin shoppers already know.

IKEA U.S. officially announced on May 7, 2026, that a new store is coming to Madison, joining the existing Wisconsin location in Oak Creek, near Milwaukee, which has been serving Badger State shoppers since it opened in 2018.

The new IKEA Madison will be located at Prairie Towne Center, 215 Junction Road, on Madison's far west side, moving into the former Bed Bath & Beyond location that has been empty since the chain's bankruptcy in 2023.

Sources indicate the store is scheduled to open in fall 2026, though a specific opening date has not yet been announced.

Get our free mobile app

How The New IKEA In Madison Will Be Different

If you've been to the Oak Creek IKEA, you know the experience: a massive, multi-level warehouse spanning nearly 300,000 square feet, a full Swedish restaurant, and what feels like an entire afternoon's worth of showrooms, arrows, and meatballs. The new Madison store is a completely different animal.

IKEA Madison will clock in at approximately 54,000 square feet, making it barely one-fifth the size of the Oak Creek location. For context, the new Madison store will be just over half the size of the Target store next door to it at Prairie Towne Center.

This is not a scaled-down version of the IKEA you remember. It is a fundamentally different format, by design.

The Madison location will feature more than 5,000 products on display, with approximately 3,000 items available for immediate purchase and take-home, including over 130 furniture pieces, textiles, lighting, and home accessories.

Larger items like sofas and beds won't be on the floor for same-day pickup, but customers will be able to order them in-store or online for home delivery or pickup at convenient area locations.

The store will also include a dedicated planning area where IKEA experts will offer personalized consultations for kitchens, wardrobes, bathrooms, and living room storage, as well as the brand's beloved Swedish Deli, where the meatballs, cinnamon buns, and hot dogs will still very much be on the menu.

IKEA's Nationwide Shift To Smaller Stores

The Madison location is not a one-off experiment. IKEA U.S. is opening 10 new stores across the country in 2026 as part of a deliberate shift away from the traditional big-box warehouse model.

The company opened 14 new retail locations in fiscal year 2025, including smaller-format stores in California and Texas, as it works to bring the IKEA brand closer to where people already shop rather than asking them to make a destination trip to a massive suburban warehouse.

SEE NOW: The 10 Best Ice Cream Shops You Need To Visit In Wisconsin

The strategy also includes a growing network of Plan & Order locations, small-footprint outposts where customers can work with staff and place orders for delivery, without a full store attached. IKEA already launched one of those pickup points in Roseville, Minnesota, as part of this same push.

"At IKEA, we believe that a better everyday life starts at home — and that means making shopping at IKEA easy and convenient," IKEA U.S. Interim CEO Rob Olson said in announcing the Madison store. "Opening a new location in Madison is part of our continued commitment to reaching customers where they are."

For Wisconsin shoppers who have spent years making the drive to Oak Creek, or even further, to Illinois, the convenience of a Madison location, even in a smaller format, will be a welcome change. The meatballs will taste the same either way.