Ikea today confirmed its new London store will open next month as it increases its presence on the high street.
The outlet will open in Hammersmith, West London, on February 24 with a new ‘small store’ format – the first time UK customers will be able to buy a wide range of the retailer’s products on the high street.
The opening of Ikea’s first centrally located store in London follows the homewares giant buying the former Topshop flagship shop on Oxford Street for £378million, with plans to open Ikea Oxford Street by autumn 2023.
The Hammersmith store, which will open at 10am on February 24 then 9am daily, will be about one quarter of the size of a traditional Ikea site, with 4,000 product lines on display and 1,800 available to take away on the same day.
The shop set across two floors will focus on home accessories and soft furnishings, while larger furniture items will also be on display and can be ordered for home delivery or delivery to nearby collection points.
It will also feature a Swedish delicatessen serving hot and cold traditional delicacies for dine-in and takeaway, including Smorrebrod open sandwiches, Nordic Chicken Caesar and Swedish Mazarin, a popular type of tart.
There will also be variations of Ikea’s traditional meatballs, including plant balls. The deli – located on the edge of the site – will open at 8am on weekdays, an hour earlier than the main store, to allow commuters to ‘grab and go’.
The Swedish chain already has 17 large stores in England including four London outlets in Croydon, Greenwich, Tottenham and Wembley. There is also one megastore in Cardiff, another in Belfast and two in Scotland.
The Hammersmith Ikea will have a Swedish delicatessen serving hot and cold traditional delicacies for dine-in and takeaway
The outlet will open in a shopping centre in Hammersmith, West London, on February 24 with a new ‘small store’ format
The deli at the store will open at 8am on weekdays, an hour earlier than the main store, to allow commuters to ‘grab and go’
GROUND FLOOR: The store will be about one quarter of the size of a traditional Ikea site, with 4,000 product lines on display
FIRST FLOOR: The Hammersmith Ikea store will have 1,800 available product lines available to take away on the same day
Ikea Hammersmith will be located within ‘Livat Hammersmith’, which is the revamped shopping centre owned by the chain’s sister company Ingka Centres, which bought the current Kings Mall shopping centre in 2019.
Ikea said the ‘Market Hall’ concept known to customers will be ‘replaced with products located next to the roomsets they represent’ and there will be a total of 49,500 sq ft (4,600 sq m) worth of commercial space.
Flat pack bullies: Girl who was named Ikea after her mother saw a TV ad for the furniture giant while pregnant had to change her name to stop being picked on at school
Jasmine Dagless, of Norwich
An NHS worker whose mother named her Ikea after seeing a TV advert for the furniture chain had to legally change her name to Jasmine after years of bullying.
Miss Dagless, 19, was relentlessly teased by cruel schoolyard trolls, and was even cruelly dubbed ‘flat pack’.
She changed her name to Jasmine, her middle name, in 2014 – but said her family are still allowed to call her ‘Ikea’, or ‘Kea’ for short. She said she has furnished her flat with Ikea kit.
Miss Dagless added: ‘I used to get called flat pack quite a lot at primary school. The bullying really shocked me because young children don’t know about Ikea. I legally changed my name when I was in secondary school. It’s only legally that I get called Jasmine. My family still call me Ikea, or ‘Kea’ for short.’
The NHS administration assistant said her mother agreed to the name change – despite the family enjoying perks from Ikea after her birth. She said: ‘When I was younger my mum got a letter from Ikea that basically said we could get furniture and toys free of charge. I got a few toys and my mum got a sofa.’
The teenager has stayed loyal to the store by furnishing her flat with a branded six-drawer commode – and is considering buying a built-in wardrobe from the chain. She is also keen to visit her local Ikea on a sentimental trip, adding: ‘I went to Ikea when I was one or two but as an adult I’ve never been – I really want to go.’
Peter Jelkeby, Ikea UK and Ireland’s retail manager and chief sustainability officer, said: ‘As shopping habits evolve and city centres continue to be redefined in the wake of the pandemic, this new store format marks the next step in our business transformation as we strive to make Ikea more accessible, affordable and sustainable.
‘For the first time, Londoners will be able to take the Tube to an Ikea store, pop in, grab a yellow bag and buy all the home furnishing accessories that make a house a home. They will also be able to explore the whole range, for delivery to a convenient collection point or directly to their home.’
Ikea said the store ‘has been built with sustainability in mind’ and is easily accessible via public transport because it is connected via four London Underground lines and served by a total of 68 bus routes.
The outlet will also feature a small circular hub, where customers will be able to access Ikea’s ‘Buy Back’ service where they can trade in selected used furniture for Ikea vouchers and purchase second-hand items that can be taken home that day.
An Ikea spokesman said: ‘Taking inspiration from life at home in London, the smaller store will still include everything customers love about Ikea while making it easier and quicker to shop their favourite products.
‘With a focus on home accessories and soft furnishings, roomsets will bring to life urban living, while larger home furniture pieces will also be on display and can be ordered for home delivery or delivery to nearby collection points.’
In October last year, Ikea agreed to buy the iconic former flagship store of fashion chain Topshop in Oxford Circus from the administrators of bankrupt owner Arcadia Group, as part of its push to open inner-city outlets.
Krister Mattson, head of the investment arm of Ingka Group which owns most Ikea stores, said at the time that three floors of the Oxford Street building would be turned into an Ikea store due to open in the summer or autumn of 2023.
In recent years Ikea has tweaked its strategy towards adding inner-city store formats besides its giant out-of-town warehouse stores to reflect changing shopping behaviour. It opened its first inner-city full-range store in Paris in 2019.
The Ikea on Tottenham Court Road called the ‘Ikea Planning Studio’, which specialised in kitchens and bedrooms, opened in October 2018 but closed permanently in July 2021 after ‘careful evaluation’.
Last month Ikea confirmed it had increased the average price of products in its UK stores by 10 per cent due to rising supply chain costs.
The retailer said on December 30 that it had been forced to increase prices in the UK by more than the global 9 per cent average due to ‘local market conditions’, including increased HGV and logistics costs.
Ikea Hammersmith (pictured under construction) will be in ‘Livat Hammersmith’, the revamped Kings Mall shopping centre
The homewares giant bought the former Topshop flagship shop on London’s Oxford Street for £378million last October
Ikea has bought the former Topshop flagship store on London’s Oxford Street which is set to open as an Ikea by autumn 2023
However, analysis by the Daily Mail found that some beds, wardrobes and desks have spiked in price by as much as 50 per cent.
A Malm chest of drawers went up from £99 in mid-December to £150 by the end of the month – a jump of 52 per cent – a Hemnes daybed frame increased from £215 to £279, and a Klippan two-seater sofa rose from £199 to £229 – 15 per cent more.
The issue was first raised by customers online, who noticed the sharp increases after Christmas, with some questioning why prices had not fallen as part of Boxing Day sales.
Ikea also said in December 2020 that it was scrapping its catalogue as more and more people turn to the internet to shop. The last print run of the catalogue was summer that year, after a history that stretches back to 1951.
Some 285,000 copies of the first catalogue, with 68 pages, were printed that year and distributed to people in the south of Sweden.
It was compiled personally by Ingvar Kamprad, the founder whose initials form the first two letters in Ikea. Ikea’s biggest print run for its catalogue was 2016, when it printed 200million copies in 32 languages.