It’s been a long wait but London’s Oxford Circus finally has an opening date for the much-anticipated arrival of Ikea, albeit 18 months late.
Reuters
May Day will see the Swedish furniture/homewares retail giant opening the doors to one of the capital’s prime retail locations to give a further boost to Oxford Street’s ongoing regeneration.
Three floors totalling 62,400 sq ft of the former Topshop/Topman store will feature the retailer’s popular furniture and homewares with stock amounting to around 6,000 products, around 3,500 of which will be available to take away, with the rest available for home delivery.
It will also feature a 130-seat Swedish deli and showrooms, as well as offer one-to-one design consultations. The upper floors of the building will be rented out as office space.
Peter Jelkeby, chief executive of Ikea’s UK business, told The Guardian newspaper that the new store was part of the retailer’s efforts to get closer to where its customers live, work and shop, in places accessible by public transport.
“We have worked carefully to ensure we maintain the character of this historic building while creating a modern retail environment for customers to explore and be inspired,” he said.
Ikea’s parent group bought the site for an estimated £378 million in early 2022, but renovation plans have been complicated, delaying the opening. The retailer said it had installed new insulation and a heat pump, and dealt with water ingress problems in the basement floors.
The store will employ 150 people after receiving 3,730 applications in just five days, a record for the retailer, when recruitment opened earlier this year, the report said.
Adjacent to the flagship Nike Town store, the space will also feature a ground floor store for beauty retailer Space NK.
