Ikea look to open city centre locations

The high street has been a major talking point this year, as the UK government continues to invest in reviving the high street. Over the last decade, the popularity of out of town retail parks has resulted in a surge of development as the larger retailers look to capitalise on cheaper space and free parking for customers.

Ikea is one such business who have mainly developed large showrooms in out of town locations. They have a vast catalogue of flatpack furniture that requires enormous storage to allow customers to collect in store.

Now though, Ikea has noticed that shopping habits are changing with more people living in city centres with no access to their own vehicle. In a bid to service these customers Ikea is now looking into opening a host of new city centre stores across the UK. Javier Quinones, UK boss of the Swedish furniture giant, said the stores would be "in between" the size of its new smaller city centre format and its big out-of-town stores.

Known as planning studios, these stores will carry a small amount of the current range with all purchases being delivered through the company’s online platform. The stores will also have the full kitchen, bathroom and bedroom ranges to allow customers to plan and order in store.

Jesper Brodin, Ikea chief executive, said: "The retail landscape is transforming at a scale and pace we've never seen before. As customer behaviours change rapidly, we are investing and developing our business to meet their needs in better and new ways."

With the first of these stores opening in Tottenham, London it will be interesting to see just how popular these new stores could be.