Assembled in Boise brings IKEA to Idaho

IKEA, the Swedish home furnishings giant, has no plans to expand into Idaho, but Boiseans starved for a Malm bed or Billy bookcase can have IKEA orders delivered to them by Assembled in Boise.

The local delivery company, started by Emre Houser, has completed three IKEA runs to a store near Salt Lake City and has a fourth scheduled for Jan. 28.

“People are still trying to figure out if we’re real or not,” said Houser, who otherwise works in information technology. He started the project after he made the trek to Utah to buy some IKEA kitchen cabinets for his house and realized other people might want to avoid the long trip.

Customers place their order with IKEA and then notify Houser, who charges 30 percent of the order price for deliveries, as well as additional charges for drop offs outside Boise.

IKEA spokesman Joseph Roth said the company, which has 38 stores in the U.S., usually opens stores in areas with 2 million people, so the Treasure Valley isn’t on their list for new stores.

“There are other businesses like what we do around the country and they’re successful,” Houser said. He’s looking into expanding the company and getting into installing kitchen cabinets and other remodeling projects. “We do have plans and ideas to grow and do more than just deliver and install your bookcases.”