RIVERVIEW, N.B. – On Wednesday evening, Riverview Town Councilor Andrew LeBlanc typed out a lofty Christmas wish.
After hearing that IKEA was looking to open some smaller stores across the country, he thought, why not in Riverview?
“I know my wife really likes IKEA and I like some of their stuff and a lot of our friends do and I thought this is a cool opportunity,” he said. “We got space here we have developers who have land and we certainly could assist to bring IKEA in. It would be great economically for the Town of Riverview.”
Moncton shopper Natalie Vautour was all smiles at the notion of an IKEA store opening nearby.
“A lot of my friends from work go on road trips to Quebec just to go to IKEA on the weekend so that would be awesome,” she said.
LeBlanc said it’s a perfect match.
Greater Moncton has become the retail shopping hub of the Maritimes. People travel here from Price Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Maine to shop. The area has already drawn a host of big box stores, like Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shop, both under construction in Greater Moncton.
That’s why LeBlanc wrote his invitation to the president of IKEA Canada and posted the invitation online to gather signatures of support before he sends it off.
“I am looking at comments of the document we have and so far we have about 230 people that have added their name to the invitation that is going to go to IKEA which is amazing.”
Comments