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A $12 millionn renovation/expansion of the 18-year-old Carson Mall is slated to begin this week. The centerpiece of that project will be the conversion of the mall's former Broadway department store space into an Ikea furniture outlet.
The project start comes just days before the expected Feb. 13 completion of Swedish furniture retailer Ikea AB's $19.7 million buyout of its rival, Stor Furnishings International Inc.
Ikea officials also confirmed last week that they plan to soon shutter the Stor location at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, assuming the buyout is closed as expected.
Del Amo Fashion Center is less than 10 miles from the Carson Mall and keeping both stores open would be redundant, explained Ikea spokeswoman Cynthia Neiman.
About 130 workers are currently employed at the Stor outlet in Torrance, and all those workers will be considered for jobs at the new Ikea store in Carson, Neiman said.
"There are a lot of experienced people at the Torrance location," she said. "And we expect a certain percentage of them to be moving over (to Carson). But we don't know at this point how many that will actually be."
The loss...