Ikea’s new Brighton store will open next year, its chief executive said today.
The update came as the UK arm of the Swedish furniture giant released its 2024 financial report, which showed a slump in sales.
Ikea has previously said the Brighton “city” store, which will open in what was Debenhams, in Churchill Square, will open “soon” – but after another “city” store in Oxford Street.
That location, in the former Topshop flagship store opposite the Oxford Circus tube station, has been delayed until next spring because of leaks found in the basement.
Mr Jelkeby said today: “We continue to dedicate our energy to our UK expansion plans and investing heavily to become more accessible.
“To complement our existing stores, we are laser-focused on continuing to innovate to reach more customers, with a network of new, smaller stores that offer different experiences, as well as new services that meet all of our customers’ needs – no matter where they live.”
The “city” stores will carry a reduced range of marketplace goods and smaller furniture items but not the large flatpack items which first made it famous.
Today, it said the slump in sales for the past year was due to under-pressure shoppers holding off buying bigger-ticket items.
The UK arm of the Swedish homeware giant said the fall was also partly driven by price reductions to keep attracting customers hit hard by the higher cost of living.
The company revealed that retail sales dropped by 6.8 per cent to £2.3 billion for the year to August, compared with the previous financial year.
Ikea linked the drop to a “strategic decision to prioritise affordability” as it invested more than £117 million into lowering prices over the year.
Peter Jelkeby, chief executive and chief sustainability officer of Ikea UK, said: “In a year of economic uncertainty, our priority was clear: stand with our customers.
“In spite of our reduced turnover, continuing to lower prices remains our long-term priority.”
The retailer, which is owned by parent group Ingka, said more than 3,000 products, representing about a third of its range, were reduced in price.
It said there was an “uptick” in demand as the year progressed, supported by more price reductions, which helped improve sales in categories such as kitchens, bedrooms and storage.
On Thursday, Ingka revealed that the global Ikea group saw retail sales drop by 5 per cent to 39.6 billion euros (£33.2 billion) for the year.
I visited one of these style stores earlier in the year when I was in the US
A lot smaller than a mega one because they don’t need to thave the endless stock racks. with book cases, beds and sofas.
The store was more of a show room for those sorts of things than a sales outlet.
The market place was similar to the one at e.g. Croydon
They had plenty of terminals so you could order in store for home delivery after you’d seen items in real life.
These stores are a good concept.
This news left me feeling a little flat.
Brought a sandwich in an IKEA once. Came as two slices of bread, filling and an Allen key. Even after following the instructions I had a piece left over that I didn’t know what to do with so I discarded it hoping it wasn’t needed to maintain the structural integrity of my meatball Marianna.