BEST NEWS FOR NEW URBAN FURNITURE HOUNDS

Condo dwellers, yuppies, college kids, hip urbanites and assemble-it-yourself-furniture lovers, mark your calendars. Ikea, the Swedish purveyor of mod, low-cost housewares is finally coming to Tampa. In July, the Tampa City Council approved plans to build the 350,000-square-foot outlet in Ybor City, with the store slated to open in 2009. If that’s too long to wait, you can get a taste of the Bay area’s retail future this fall by grabbing a buddy with an SUV and road-tripping it to new stores in Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale.