IKEA opened its highly-anticipated Oxford Street store yesterday, giving customers the chance to shop thousands of home products and dine affordably in its new UK flagship. The opening marks a milestone in IKEA’s strategy to increase its presence in city centres and expand with smaller formats, increasing accessibility for customers.

IKEA Oxford Street will bring together home furnishing inspiration and retail innovation, offering “more than just a place to shop”, it said. After an extensive £450million renovation of the Grade II listed site, which used to be the former Topshop flagship, the IKEA store will span three floors of the iconic building.

Curated edits, Swedish deli and Re-Shop among key flagship features

On the Ground Floor, three ‘curated shops’ will deliver ‘edits’ created by Londoners, reflecting the character and diversity of the city. The curated shops will be updated multiple times a year, keeping the edits fresh and showcasing new product selections.

The store will also feature room sets are inspired by local living, with spaces and room sets providing urban living ideas. These will include WFH set-ups, inspiration for period properties and basement rooms, as well as concepts for relaxing balcony spaces. The flagship will also feature personal design services as well as IKEA’s iconic Swedish Deli, a 130-seater space serving up Swedish meatballs and snacks. It will also have a Re-Shop and Re-Use section, where customers can buy second-hand or discontinued products.

“Our new home on Oxford Street [is] a milestone in our journey to becoming more accessible,” Peter Jelkeby, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA UK&I, said. “It will be an IKEA many know and love, with some new features exclusive to this iconic city centre store.” 

Drawing large crowds at its official opening on Thu 01 May, a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place at 10am to mark the launch, with IKEA’s CEO UK&I, Peter Jelkeby and IKEA colleagues joined by the Mayor of London and the Swedish Ambassador to the UK.

“We’ve made this iconic retail space our new home and can’t wait for all to experience a store filled with what they know and love about IKEA, as well as features unique to this one-of-a-kind location.”

Peter Jelkeby, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA UK&I

Can the IKEA love-in outlast the launch day buzz?

However, despite the significant crowds gathering the opening, retail analyst and Founder of Redline Retail, Andrew Busby, who attended the launch event, questioned in a LinkedIn video whether the buzz could ‘outlast’ the launch day.

He pondered whether visitors to Oxford Street would be “in the mindset to go shopping in IKEA” – while big ticket items would need to be fulfilled via home delivery, he asked if demand for smaller homewear items and impulse buys could be sustained. “Will we really be seeing loads of IKEA-blue bags on the Underground? I don’t know,” he said in the video.

However, writing in the Evening Standard, Jonathan Prynn said that new openings and investment in Oxford Street by IKEA and other major global brands signified London’s premier retail street is “back in business”.

With new brands including PUMA, which will open a new 24,000 sq ft flagship moments from Selfridges in Autumn, Prynn pointed to research by Savills. This showed existing Oxford Street retailers, including Nike, New Balance, Massimo Dutti and Moss Bros, have spent an estimated £118million in the past year on new fit-outs for their Oxford Street stores. “It is a tangible vote of confidence in a street that appeared to be destined for a death spiral of decline just a few years ago,” he said.

The IKEA Oxford Street store is now open daily from 10am – 8pm.