Avid shoppers are finally filing into the much awaited new Ikea store on Oxford Street after queuing for hours for its grand opening today.
The new £450 million store in Oxford Street, London has faced two delays but is now considered a crucial element in reviving the street’s reputation as a top global shopping destination by retail and council officials.
Situated in the former Topshop building, the three-story shop offers about 6,000 products for sale. Customers can take home 3,500 items immediately, while the remaining items can be ordered for home delivery, click and collect, or retrieval from lockers and other designated pickup spots.
Pictures of the opening show staff, in yellow and blue tops, cheering and waving the flags of the UK and Sweden to greet shoppers as the walk in.
However there has already been some skepticism over how customers are going to transport their goods home, as there is no parking.
To make a purchase from the store, customers need to be able to carry the items themselves. This means that the 3,500 products available for immediate purchase weigh less than 15kg and are no longer than 150cm in length.
It is the second UK high street store for the company – the first opened in Hammersmith in 2022 – which it described as a ‘milestone’ in a strategy to expand its presence in city centres with smaller formats, increasing accessibility for customers.
Another city centre store, in central Brighton, is set to open this summer, followed by three smaller stores in Chester, Harlow and Norwich this year.
The company said it had further specific areas of interest including in London, the Midlands and the North West, but no new locations to confirm yet.
In a global first for the firm, the store will feature a live studio with broadcasting capabilities enabling it to host events such as cooking demonstrations.
It will also have a Re-Shop and Re-Use section where customers can buy second-hand and discontinued Ikea products.
A 130-seat Swedish deli will allow visitors to dine ‘affordably’ in the city centre on dishes including hot dogs from 85p and meatballs or plantballs starting at £4.95, with takeaway options also available.
The area has become blighted by crime and homelessness in recent years having fallen into disrepair with empty shops, littered streets and falling visitor numbers – with poor quality US ‘candy stores’ and souvenir shops at the centre of concerns.
Major retailers to have closed in recent years in addition to Topshop have included House of Fraser, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Debenhams.
Problems reached a peak in August 2023 when West End stores were forced to lower their shutters and lock customers inside after large groups of mainly young men responded to a call on TikTok to join a ‘Oxford Circus JD robbery’.
But the area was boosted when HMV reopened its old flagship store in November 2023, and Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan now wants to pedestrianise 0.7 miles of the street as part of the regeneration despite warnings this could make it a crime-ridden ‘no-go area’.
Ikea said its ‘roomsets’ – the spaces in all of its stores that show complete rooms put together – have been created with ‘real people’ who live in London.
They include set-ups for working from home and running a small business, inspiration for properties with period features, ideas for basement rooms with little natural light, and designs for balconies.
Peter Jelkeby, chief executive and chief sustainability officer of Ikea UK, said: ‘We continue to dedicate our energy to our UK expansion plans and investing heavily to become more accessible.
‘To complement our existing stores, we are laser-focused on continuing to innovate to reach more customers, with a network of new, smaller stores that offer different experiences, as well as new services that meet all of our customers’ needs – no matter where they live.’
The firm described its new location as at the ‘heart of one of the world’s most dynamic shopping streets’.
Ingka Investment, the investment arm of the retail group, bought the Grade II listed building at 214 Oxford Street after Topshop owner Arcadia fell into administration.
Tolga Oncu, Ingka retail manager, said: ‘Adding Oxford Street to the Ikea map is a special moment for us.
Tolga Oncu, Ingka retail manager, said: ‘Adding Oxford Street to the Ikea map is a special moment for us.
‘This store, on one of the busiest and most well-known streets in the world, exemplifies our ambition to innovate our retail presence and bring Ikea to where our customers live, work, and socialise.
‘Offering our well-designed and affordable products to more people in city centres across the globe remains our way forward.’
The store’s opening is seen as a crucial part of the revival of Oxford Street, which suffered a slump in visitor numbers during the Covid pandemic, leading to sites sitting vacant and the opening of a string of American sweet shops.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: ‘It’s fantastic news that Ikea is opening a new flagship store on Oxford Street.
‘It’s a huge vote of confidence in London, in our economy and in our plans to rejuvenate Oxford Street and unlock its true potential.
‘Oxford Street is one of the most famous shopping destinations in the world and we want to give it a new lease of life.
‘This involves attracting brilliant companies like Ikea, which will help to create new jobs and increase footfall.
‘We have developed bold proposals to pedestrianise Oxford Street and to establish it as a global leader for shopping, leisure and outdoor events.
‘The consultation on these plans closes on May 2 so I encourage everyone to have their say.’
Ikea was founded in Sweden in 1943, and opened its first UK store in Warrington, Cheshire, in 1987 – before its first London store in Wembley one year later.
