Ikea reveals ‘preliminary’ plans to open Manhattan store
An Ikea store on Tottenham Court Road in central London, via Ikea
Amazon, Target, and Trader Joe’s have all cemented their Manhattan presence in recent years, and it looks like Ikea does not want to be left out of the action. In a Wall Street Journal story today that discusses the Swedish furniture company’s larger restructuring plans (which includes slashing 7,500 jobs in an attempt to focus on delivery and digital efforts), it was revealed that Ikea will open 30 new stores in city centers over the next two years. There is currently a store in central London, and the next foray into major urban hubs will be its largest yet, a 5,000-square-foot space in Paris. After that, they’ll open a city-center store in NYC, which we assume will be somewhere between FiDi and the 80s.
The jobs that Ikea is getting rid of are mainly in the communications, human resources, and administrative departments. But by investing in delivery, digital, and city-center stores, the furniture giant plans to create 11,500 new jobs over the next two years, a very steep increase considering they currently employ 160,000 corporate staff. The shift comes after internal research revealed that 80 percent of Ikea customers research and plan their purchases before even entering a store. In response, as the Journal explains, “IKEA is cutting the number of products it displays, freeing up space for more mocked-up living rooms and bedrooms.”
Since opening its first store in the Swedish village of Älmhult in 1958, Ikea has focused on opening sprawling locations in more rural or industrial areas outside of city centers. However, with statistics showing that 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, they’ve decided to adjust this strategy. Assuming that New Yorkers take to this idea, Ikea then plans to open similar city-center stores in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Ikea’s property division, Ingka Centres, is also taking a new city-center approach. Commercial Observer recently reported that the development arm will open six mixed-use developments in the next two years as part of a $6.6 billion investment plan. In addition to a proper Ikea store, these complexes will have retail and entertainment areas, commercial space, and health education services. The first of these locations is being built for $1.1 billion in Shanghai, China. For North American ventures, New York City and San Francisco are at the top of the list, though it’s not clear whether these much larger projects would be directly in Manhattan.
[Via WSJ]
