RUSH: Ikea is the world’s most successful furniture outlet, and they want to stay that way.

Ikea wants to add new store locations, to respond to “changes in the way people live and shop.“ Right now, most Ikeas are in suburban areas outside major cities. But the company says over the next 20 years fewer people are going to be driving, or will even have cars. Obviously, they’re talking about Millennials. And I’lI bet you that’s not true, but that’s a whole other day.

So Ikea is hunting for prime downtown locations in big cities worldwide. They’re looking in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Mumbai. I always love saying Mumbai. They’re also looking in New York City.

Now, to elected officials in almost all of these cities, this is great news. A big company wants to invest in their downtown areas. That means tax dollars, ancillary businesses, and more economic activity.

But you Ikea executives had better beware. If you really want to open a New York store, you better come up with a plan to deal with New York liberals. They hate big business. They might like your furniture but they don’t want to pay for it. And they will run big business out of town whenever they can. Ask Amazon about that, Bezos, he’ll tell you. I can’t wait to see this.