IKEA will tomorrow, Thursday 1st May, open the doors of its Oxford Street store, welcoming the first visitors to its new central London location. Creating a unique shopping experience in the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic shopping streets, IKEA Oxford Street will bring together home furnishing inspiration and retail innovation, offering more than just a place to shop.
Following an extensive renovation of the Grade II listed building at 214 Oxford Street by Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, IKEA will span three floors of the iconic seven-storey building.
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 across the UK.
Peter Jelkeby, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA UK, said: “Tomorrow, we will celebrate our new home on Oxford Street, a milestone in our journey to becoming more accessible. It will be an IKEA many know and love, with some new features exclusive to this iconic city centre store. Created in collaboration with real voices and with Londoners in mind, opening our doors is a landmark moment following a meticulous renovation and we are truly excited to share it.”
Stand out features of IKEA Oxford Street include:
- Curated shops – On the Ground Floor are three ‘Curated Shops’; shopping edits created by Londoners that reflect and celebrate the character and diversity of the city’s residents. Multiple times a year, new Londoners will be invited to curate their own product selection.
- IKEA’s iconic showroom – Across IKEA stores worldwide, roomsets are inspired by local living situations. In IKEA Oxford Street, this has been taken one step further, with spaces and roomsets co-created with real people based on their own homes in the capital. This provides inspiration for others living in urban areas, including 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 concepts for relaxing balcony spaces.
- Design Services – Customers can find IKEA’s usual personalised design support from knowledgeable home furnishing experts, including for interior design, kitchen, and bedroom storage planning.
- Swedish Deli – Shoppers can rest and recharge at IKEA’s 130-seater Swedish Deli or opt to take all options away. Classic IKEA dishes will be available including hot dogs from £0.85 and main course favourites such as eight and 12 piece meatballs or plantballs for as little as £4.95. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as snacking options for visitors, will bring affordable dining to the heart of the city.
- New (and used) spaces – In a global first for IKEA, the Oxford Street store will feature a 25m2 Live Studio with broadcasting capabilities. The space will enable IKEA to feature and host interactive experiences and exhibitions for locally-relevant events. The new store will also have a Re-Shop and Re-Use section, an area to shop second-life, second-hand and discontinued IKEA products, to support people to live a more sustainable life at home.
- Delivery services – Small furniture items will be available to take home from the store immediately, with around 3,500 IKEA products ready to go. For larger items that can’t quite fit in IKEA’s famous blue FRAKTA bag, shoppers can order from IKEA’s 10,000-strong product range, to be delivered directly to their home or to one of IKEA’s numerous pick-up points across the city.
Tolga Öncü, Ingka Retail Manager (COO) at IKEA Retail (Ingka Group), 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 Mayor of London, 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 2 May so I encourage everyone to have their say.”
Cllr Geoff Barraclough, Westminster City Council Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development, said: “We are thrilled to welcome the opening of IKEA on Oxford Street, breathing new life into Westminster’s vibrant retail landscape. This new store brings yet another great global brand to the nation’s High Street, diversifies the retail offer and will help generate footfall that benefits all traders in the West End. We’re particularly proud that the Westminster Council’s Employment Service worked with IKEA to recruit local people to jobs at the new outlet. We look forward to seeing the positive impact the store will have on the local economy and will continue to support emerging businesses and established brands to Oxford Street and across the city.”
Dee Corsi, CEO, New West End Company, said: “Oxford Street has been long recognised as the nation’s high street, and for good reason. More than just a place to shop, it’s a destination – a place where people come to spend the day, explore, and enjoy everything the area has to offer. It has also been undergoing an exciting transformation over the last 18 months. The much-anticipated arrival of IKEA is an important milestone in that evolution, reinforcing the street’s global reputation as an iconic retail destination.”
IKEA Oxford Street will open daily from tomorrow, from 10am to 8pm.
Facts about the IKEA Oxford Street city store:
- Total retail space of 5,800 square meters over three floors (similar in size to IKEA Hammersmith).
- About 6,000 IKEA product lines will be showcased. Half of these, about 3,500 IKEA products, will be available for immediate take-away.
- Larger furniture can be purchased / ordered for home delivery, for click and collect, or for collection off site. Within the M25 customers can collect from IKEA Hammersmith, 19 lockers in partnership with Shift, 11 pick up points in partnership with Tesco, as well as at 1,907 DPD pick up points.
- Checkouts will be located on the ground floor and –2.
- IKEA is creating 150 new jobs at the Oxford Street store, with the retailer receiving a record 3,730 applications in just five days when recruitment opened earlier this year.
- IKEA home furnishing experts will support customers with home furnishing advice and planning to create a better life at home.
- IKEA will introduce the first Changing Places Toilet at Oxford Street / Regent Street, the only available facility in a 4,000 feet / 1.2 km radius from Oxford Circus.
Facts about the 214 Oxford Street building and its renovation:
- The property 214 Oxford Street comprises a total of 238,958 square feet / 22,200 square meters over seven floors, with retail space on six of them – and is owned by Ingka Investments, one of the three core businesses of Ingka Group, the largest owner and operator of IKEA Retail.
- The removal of gas from the building and the installation of a high-efficiency air source heat pump on the building’s roof provides heating and cooling for the building through an all-electric solution.
- The installation of a second glazed window on the inside of each pane to bring 214 Oxford Street up to modern energy standards, performs as well as a modern window whilst retaining the aesthetic of the original historic building.
- Almost all (99%) waste produced during construction diverted from landfill, with more than 1,000 timber pallets sent for reuse or recycling into new pallets, and almost 20 tonnes of plasterboard offcuts sent to British Gypsum for incorporation into new plasterboard products.
- Where possible, construction materials, such as the steel used for flooring, sourced from local manufacturers with robust environmental certifications and containing a high level of recycled content.
- Clean construction throughout the restoration process, with all plant used on site electrically powered.
Facts about IKEA’s expansion in the UK:
- The first IKEA store in the UK opened 1987 in Warrington, North West England.
- One year later, 1988, the second IKEA store in the UK and the first in London opened in Wembley, North West London.
- In 2022, IKEA opened its first city store in the UK, in Hammersmith, London.
- Today, IKEA has 21 full size stores, 1 city store, 1 Order and Collection Point and 3 Plan and Order Points in the UK, and employs almost 12,000 co-workers.
- In May 2023, IKEA opened its new Dartford CDC spanning 452,000 sqft to enable faster, more sustainable home deliveries to IKEA customers in London and the southeast of England.
- IKEA offers well-designed, functional and affordable, high-quality home furnishing, produced with care for people and the environment. There are several companies with different owners, working under the IKEA brand, all sharing the same vision: to create a better everyday life for the many people.
