Ikea to open its first West End store in London’s Oxford Circus
Ikea has announced that its first store in London’s West End will open on Oxford Circus on May 1st, after a long delay due to a three-year upgrade of the listed building which was more complex than anticipated.
Ikea had acquired the former Top Shop flagship store in 2022 for a reported £378 million as part of its strategy of opening smaller format outlets in city centres.
“London is an iconic shopping destination, and we are thrilled to now have a home in its centre”, said Peter Jelkeby, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer, Ikea UK. “Our Oxford Street location complements our network of stores in London and beyond and allows us to be closer to where our customers live, work and shop, while importantly being easily accessible by foot or public transport.”
The store will span the ground two lower ground floors of the seven-storey heritage building, with a total retail space of 5,800 sq m. It will be open daily from 10am until 8pm and generate 150 new jobs.
The store will display about 6,000 Ikea products – about 3,500 will be available to take away on the spot, while the rest can be delivered to homes. There will also be a 130-seat Swedish deli.
The building also hosts a Nike store and will have three other retail outlets, including a Space NK store, and four floors of office space above.
Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ikea which owns the building, said it had dealt with extensive water leakages, had replaced gas-fired boilers with energy-efficient air source heat pumps, installed secondary glazing for improved insulation, cleaned and restored the building’s historic façade, and created a new lighting scheme to illuminate the building at night.
The original Victorian roof lantern on the fourth floor has been restored and protected with a new covering. The building’s heritage lift lobbies, which will serve the office floors, have also been restored.
Ingka Investments is hopeful to achieve a BREEAM Outstanding rating – the highest level for building sustainability.
We have worked carefully to ensure we maintain the character of this historic building whilst creating a modern retail environment for customers to explore and be inspired”, said Jelkeby.
Ikea opened its first UK store in Warrington in 1997 and its first London branch in Wembley the following year. Today it has 21 full size stores, and one city store in Hammersmith (picture below), soon to be followed by another in Oxford Circus.
