Ikea has given an update on its opening date after submitting plans for a new click and collect base in the Churchill Square car park.
The application said the retail giant would be moving into the former Debenhams unit “soon”.
Today, Ikea said it’s hoping to announce an exact opening date in due course – but this won’t be until late spring at the earliest.
An Ikea spokesperson said: “We continue to make good progress on the build of our Brighton store.
“Its exact opening date will be announced in due course, and will follow after the opening of our Oxford Street store in London next spring.”
Ikea has always said it would be opening its Oxford Street store before Brighton, but the opening of the London branch slipped back because of the challenges of refurbishing the Grade II listed building.
Last month, it said the “hugely complex” renovation had revealed “unexpected conditions” of the 100-year-old four-storey building, particularly to stop flooding in the basement levels.
Ingka Centres, which owns Ikea, bought Churchill Square from Abrdn last year for a reported £145 million.
It announced it would be opening the third of its smaller scale stores, known as Livat, in the empty Debenhams department store unit.
The first Livat opened in Hammersmith in March 2022. The smaller stores sell home accessories alongside a Swedish deli and kitchen and bathroom planning services.
The application for the new click and collect base says it will be built in the middle of the multi-storey car park and include 23 dedicated parking bays.
It says internet retail sales now represent almost 30% of the company’s total sales in the UK, leading to it rolling out more click and collect hubs to support this.
And it says having one in Brighton means customers living here will no longer have to travel to existing pick up points in Burgess Hill and Shoreham, which are only accessible by car.
It’s not clear exactly how many existing parking spaces will be lost – one document says the base will take up the space of 66 spaces, but another says there will be a net loss of 66 spaces.
People seem to have trouble understanding the various entities involved. Livat is not the name of the small scale IKEA stores, they’re still called IKEA. Livat is the name of INGKA property (the real estate division of the group)’s shopping centre concept. It’s a play on words ‘live at’ as it’s meant to be less a mall of shops and more a live/ work/ eat / entertainment AND shop concept. Some of the ones abroad have Co-working, co living, and all manner of other stuff. The centre is called Livat, not the IKEA shop. Who knows whether they intend to develop Churchill Square into the Livat format; rebrand, refurb, and reposition, or whether they’ll keep those bits as is given it seems to be pretty successful compared to many rundown, empty shopping centres. They don’t seem to be expressly saying what their plans are for the centre as a whole from what I’ve seen, they just talk a lot about the small format IKEA that will anchor the centre, even this click and collect stuff that will be reconfiguring a floor of the car park isn’t being discussed as part of a wider overhaul of the centre, just that the IKEA store at the back needs it.
The Council should turn down any application that is likely to increase the volume of traffic in the city, because it is already congested and polluted.
For the same reason, Ikea should retain the existing pick up points in Burgess Hill and Shoreham.
Better still, it should offer a comprehensive delivery service so that customers do not have to drive anywhere to receive what they order.
IKEA do already offer a comprehensive delivery service options
If the council were to turn down any application that is likely to increase the volume of traffic in the city, because it is already congested and polluted, that would eliminate 95% of all businesses in the town centre. I don’t believe that is a strong argument to make. Many would argue that home delivery services are fundamentally one of the key reasons for the death of shopping centres across the UK.
And as ChrisC says, IKEA does offer quite a comprehensive delivery service with slotted times, and also a put-together service. However, it can be quite pricey, especially if you’re considering small package, low-weight items.
When I read what people write here and what exactly has been published I’m amazed at any negativity, Debenhams would have had an expected visitor allocation in Churchills car park but it’s now been identified as required for the click and collect option which makes sense.
IKEA identified they needed somewhere south of Croydon so bought flood plain land adjacent to Shoreham’s Airport but due to local nimbly attitudes and the lack of Political will to build improved roads and access pulled out during COVID. Hilariously what’s now been built on the A27 has moved the chaos nearer to Lancing and Worthing putting pressure on 60-70s road thinking.
Now Churchill has slowly been redeveloping the units within encouraging more modern shops in one place and the slow upgrade of the high street is ongoing so IKEA give a much needed big name in the City which if they sort the drive through option should be great.
The two opinions of town centre death and not in our town centre surely needs thinking out properly by those digging in on there objections. I live in Worthing where shops are closed and left empty and decaying because Rates are too high, the town is tired where it’s one insult to a precinct has diminished since the 80s with a few un inviting shops now on one floor.
The town is screaming for new ideas, thinking and re development to fit a need, the saying “go to Worthing spend lots on parking and find nothing to buy” was voiced by a good friend from Norwich where shopping is big.
So take what’s offered and promote your town as we see a need here that Brighton is working on.
It’s clear many people do not understand what this Ikea is in comparison to the large stores. It’s going to be a place where you book an appointment to discuss and organise larger projects like building your new kitchen, or buy some smaller items, as well as have a few setup showrooms. It’s basically a mini-Ikea. A little research or Ikea themselves should better clarify what’s happening. The little number of parking should further demonstrate how few customers they expect in comparison to a normal full-size Ikea.
We may as well forget about trying to park in the Churchill Centre now. It will be jammed once IKEA opens.