On August 12, IKEA announced its first Alabama store—in Huntsville, opening in early 2026.
That means one of the worlds most respected and disciplined retailers evaluated Birmingham and Huntsville and chose Huntsville—even though Birmingham’s metro population is roughly twice as large.
The day the IKEA announcement broke, the Birmingham Business Journal’s big business story was Exotic dancers gain $1.25M settlement. Right below that headline was “IKEA chooses Huntsville for Alabama debut.”…