Ingka are now working closely with San Francisco city officials to plan for the tenants for their new Urban Centre.
Last year, Ingka Centres announced that they would be undertaking an $8.6bn plan to build urban centres in major cities, anchored by smaller Ikea stores. Although Ikea stores continue to draw in customers to their warehouse-style stores, the company has explored ideas of reducing their store footprints for city locations.
“Ikea has been known for developing and deploying big boxes in a potato field in Nebraska. That’s what people know Ikea for. But we looked at that strategy and determined it was not enough for us to be successful in the future. More people are moving to the city, and the best thing is to be closer to them. But you cannot run a 400,000sq ft store in the middle of a city,” commented Gerard Groener, Managing Director of Ingka Centres.
The first of these Urban Centres sites is located in West London and is already under construction. Recently, the company announced it had purchased a location in San Francisco, which would be the company second location. Ingka Centres and San Francisco city officials are now looking at the plans for the centre to determine how best to serve the community.
