Ikea has decided to close one of its stores just two years after its initial opening. The Swedish furniture giant will be shutting down its Plan and Order point located at the Stockport Merseyway Shopping Centre on June 16.
These particular Ikea stores are smaller in size and primarily focus on assisting customers with planning their kitchens, bedrooms, and living spaces, providing design advice but not offering immediate product takeaways. However, customers can place orders at these points for home delivery. The closest alternative store to the Stockport location is situated in Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside.
Salma Azad, the Ikea area manager, expressed regret over the closure, attributing the decision to careful evaluation and customer preferences. She mentioned that valuable insights gathered from this experience will be utilized in future Ikea openings to better serve shoppers. Azad also thanked customers for their support and assured them that the Ikea Manchester store will continue to cater to their needs.
In other news, Ikea recently launched a new store on Oxford Street in London, taking over the former TopShop site. This new store, spanning three floors of a seven-story building with 5,800 square meters of retail space, marks Ikea’s second smaller-format store following the Hammersmith branch. While the store offers around 6,000 product lines, only 3,500 items are available for immediate purchase.
Peter Jelkeby, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA UK, expressed excitement about the opening of the Oxford Street store, emphasizing its unique features tailored to the city. Tolga Öncü, Ingka Retail Manager (COO) at IKEA Retail (Ingka Group), highlighted the significance of adding Oxford Street to Ikea’s retail network, aiming to bring Ikea products closer to customers in urban centers worldwide.