The past couple of months have been massive for IKEA in the UK. Not only has the Swedish affordable furniture chain finally opened its mighty prime-location store on London’s Oxford Street, but it’s revealed plans to open a load of new stores. IKEA has acquired a bunch of former Homebase sites, with the aim of turning them into a new smaller type of concept shop.
This week, however, the home-and-meatballs giant has less-good news. IKEA is closing two of its locations in the UK, with both stores shutting today (Monday June 16).
The better news is that neither of the soon-to-shut IKEA stores are proper, massive, classic-style outposts. They’re ‘Plan and Order Points’, which are much, much smaller IKEA stores where customers can plan their kitchen, bedroom, and living room with the chain’s in-house experts. Plan and Order Points don’t actually sell anything in-store, instead offering items for home delivery and for picking up instore and/or at collection points.
Commenting on one of the closures, a spokesperson for IKEA said it is ‘a result of valuable learnings which will take the conceptual format in a direction to better suit the needs of UK customers.
‘There has been an increased demand for Click and Collect services, a desire to shop a smaller selection of home furnishing accessories, as well as the ability to return goods to physical IKEA units, something which, owing to the space available, the current location is unable to offer.
Which IKEA stores are closing in the UK?
The IKEA Plan and Order Points shutting on June 16 are:
- Aintree, Liverpool
- Merseyway Shopping Centre, Stockport
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