IKEA is set to open at Gurnee Mills in late fall 2026, in a 66,000-square-foot space in Parking Lot B next to Hobby Lobby. That is about one-sixth the size of the Schaumburg store. Gurnee Mills' marketing director gave the comparison when the store was announced in February. It will be IKEA's third store in Illinois. It is also a different kind of store from the warehouses in Schaumburg and Bolingbrook.
The store also fills the last open part of the old Sears Grand building, which closed in 2018 and sat partly empty for years after. Two things explain what Gurnee is getting: how the mall split up that building, and what IKEA's smaller store actually holds. Both point the same way. Gurnee Mills is replacing its giant single anchors with tenants sized for a shorter trip.
What fits inside 66,000 square feet
According to the Daily Herald's reporting from the announcement and the fall tenant release, the Gurnee store is planned around five things:
- A central planning area where IKEA staff help customers design kitchens, bedrooms, wardrobes, living rooms and storage.
- More than 5,000 products on display throughout the showroom.
- About 3,000 items you can take home the same day, mostly home accessories plus about 600 small furniture pieces.
- The full product line online, with free pickup at the store or delivery for a fee.
- IKEA food staples, including meatballs, veggie dogs and cinnamon buns.
Look at the numbers together. The store will display more than 5,000 products, and about 3,000 of them can leave with you that day. Most of those are accessories, with roughly 600 small furniture pieces. Bigger items work through ordering. You look at them in the showroom, plan the room with staff, buy online, and pick the order up in Gurnee for free or pay for delivery. The whole store sits on one level, which the Village's economic development director described when the agreement came to the board.
Simon Property Group's development executive told village officials that IKEA is opening these smaller stores to complement its larger warehouse-style stores. So the Schaumburg store still has a role. For a kitchen project, the planning meetings, the browsing and the pickup can now happen in Gurnee. Picking up a frame from the warehouse aisles is still a Schaumburg or Bolingbrook trip.
The sources don't say whether the food will be served in a full café or something smaller, and IKEA hasn't posted store hours yet.
The last third of a 201,409-square-foot box
When Sears Grand closed, it left 201,409 square feet. A Simon development executive later told the village board that a building that large "no longer was tenable for a single tenant." The fix was to split it into three spaces and fill them one at a time.
| Piece of the former Sears Grand | Tenant | Opened |
|---|---|---|
| First space | Hobby Lobby | Early 2022 |
| Second space | Round One Bowling & Amusement | Summer 2025 |
| Third space, about 66,000 sq ft | IKEA | Targeted for late fall 2026 |
The Village helped before IKEA was ever involved. It put $500,000 toward renovating the space for two or more tenants, and that money has since been recouped. Each tenant that followed is a destination of its own: a craft and home décor store, a bowling and arcade venue, and now a home furnishings showroom built around planning. None of them needed all 200,000 square feet.
Jocelyn Gubler, Simon's vice president of development, described the mall's position to the village board last December:
"As department stores fall by the wayside and as boxes sit empty, we've been fortunate at Gurnee Mills to be able to fill those and this is one of our last remaining boxes."
She told the board the IKEA lease would bring the mall to about 95% occupancy. Gurnee Mills opened in 1991. It is billed as the largest outlet and full-price shopping center in Illinois, with more than 200 stores and attractions.
Why the Village put up $2 million
The Gurnee village board approved a six-year redevelopment agreement with Gurnee Mills in early December 2025, before the retailer had even been named. The incentive is capped at $2 million and comes in two parts. The Village contributes up to $1 million over the first four years and rebates up to $1 million in sales tax during the final four years. The project also calls for $12 million in private investment, split roughly evenly between Simon and IKEA.
Ellen Dean, the village's economic development director, explained the math. The store is expected to generate $2.9 million in sales tax over the six years. After paying out the full incentive, the Village expects to come out about $900,000 ahead. She also said the retailer "is anticipated to generate community excitement and draw from a wide geographic area."
Gurnee usually ranks first or second in sales tax among Lake County towns, and the mall is a big reason why. The deal puts the rebate in the later years, so the Village gives back part of the tax the store generates once it's open and selling. Gurnee has used this approach before. It's the same village that helped split the Sears building in the first place. Vernon Hills had its own long wait to fill a big-box store, which we covered in why its biggest empty storefront took three years to fill. Gurnee's answer to the same problem was to split the building into smaller spaces.
The rest of the fall lineup, by entrance
IKEA isn't the only opening. The other new stores announced this fall follow the same pattern, mostly specialty shops and local-scale stops spread around the mall. Here they are by entrance, based on the mall's late-August announcement as reported by the Daily Herald and the Lake and McHenry County Scanner:
- Entry A: Toys "R" Us, a standalone store rather than a shop inside another retailer, announced to open Oct. 1.
- Entry B: Fashion Q, a women's fast-fashion store, announced for September.
- Entry C: Archive Room, carrying deadstock vintage pieces through modern luxury basics, expected in October.
- Entry E: Nali Jewelers, a family-owned fine jewelry store, announced for September.
- Dining Pavilion North, near Entry J: Sophia's Mexican Grill, serving traditional Mexican street food, expected in October. One TV report placed it near Entry A, so check the mall directory before you go.
- Also near Entry J, later: Sky Zone's trampoline park, with private party rooms and a Fuel Zone for food. It was planned for this summer but has been pushed to spring 2027.
Several newer stops are already open, including Rally House, Abuela's, AJ's Putt 'N' Play and Chocolate Moonshine Co. None of these dates had been confirmed as actual openings at the time of writing, so treat the September and October months as announced plans.
The Toys "R" Us is part of a national expansion that, according to NBC Chicago, will add 120 new locations. The Gurnee store and a store at White Oaks Mall in Springfield were the two new standalone Illinois locations set for Oct. 1.
Getting to Grand Avenue this fall
The mall's address is 6170 W. Grand Ave., and two village road projects affect nearby routes this season. Fuller Road is being rebuilt from Stearns School Road down to Route 132, with temporary lane, sidewalk and driveway closures. The Village lists an estimated completion of November 2026. North of there, a sidewalk and crossing project at Gages Lake Road and Route 21 was scheduled to start in October 2026, with lane closures and an estimated finish in April 2027. The latest project updates on the Village's construction projects page are from late August, so check it before you plan around either one.
The Village's own fall calendar runs alongside the mall openings. The Styrofoam recycling event is Saturday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bonfire & Brews, an adults-only night, is listed for Friday, Oct. 16, from 7 to 11 p.m. at Bittersweet Golf Club, 875 Almond Road. Trick-or-treat hours are Oct. 31 from 2 to 5 p.m. For a broader look at living near the village's big draws, see our piece on life near Gurnee's major attractions and our Gurnee neighborhood page.
If you're planning a kitchen or wardrobe redesign around IKEA's planning service, Payes Real Estate Group can help. Ivonne Payes has worked hands-on in design and remodeling, and she can walk your Gurnee home with you before you start the layout. That way your plan fits the rooms you actually have and the value you want the home to hold. Reach out and Work With Us.
