Sweden's giant furniture retailer IKEA has dropped its preference for out-of-town centres for its stores in the UK, unveiling plans to locate its newest store next to a London railway station.
Frustrated by delays in getting planning approvals for out-of-town centres for its signature blue-and-yellow stores, IKEA is planning to build its next store in Hillingdon in west London, adjacent to an underground station.
IKEA also plans to build 240 one and two-bedroom flats as part of the deal, besides shops, parking spaces, public space and a new entrance for the railway station.
'We have reached a point where we are no longer interested in entering into prolonged planning battles. What we want are stores as quickly as we possibly can get them,' said Graham Sharp, IKEA's town planning manager in the UK.
Sharp said IKEA no longer had 'any ideological problems' in not locating stores in major town centres in the UK, its second biggest market globally and home to its busiest store in the world at Brent Park in north London.
Some 33 million people visited IKEA stores in Britain last year, more than a tenth of around 286 million visitors to its stores globally. IKEA said at 20,000 square feet (1,800 square metres) its new store was expected to be its smallest in Britain, and would provide employment to around 500 people.
The family-owned company has 13 stores in Britain and plans to open 10 stores throughout the UK over the next three years.
Earlier this year the Irish Government has agreed to change the planning laws, clearing the way for stores such as Ikea to open in Ireland. The Cabinet decided to remove a 6,000 square metre limit on the size of retail outlets in certain designated areas.
