Ikea could be opening a flat-pack furniture on Britain‘s busiest shopping street
The Swedish furniture giant has confirmed it‘s in talks about taking up residence at 252 – 258 Oxford Street: in the BHS department store where it would form a smaller former outlet.
The store would be used as an “order-and-collection” point, similar to the one that recently opened in Norwich a fortnight ago. A second one is scheduled to open in Aberdeen in early 2016.
The retailer is currently is exploring a number of other potential locations across the UK, one of which is the current BHS building on Oxford Street and, an IKEA spokesperson said this morning, “While we are seriously considering this opportunity, we have nothing to confirm at this point in time while discussions are ongoing.”
The smaller outlet would bring IKEA closer to customers who don‘t live within a commutable range of a full store.
Could this move from the world‘s largest furniture store be in riposte to that other high street giant, John Lewis? The British department store retailer said in August that a £14m investment on its homewares department would see it become the UK‘s biggest furniture retailer within 4 years, incidentally taking the spot from IKEA.
