Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
It's just one of the smaller format stores. It sounds very likely that Halifax is going to get one given that they plan to create 10 of them and, presumably, they'll be going in markets that don't already have an IKEA.
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I wouldn't count on this just yet. Nor would I count out Halifax altogether. Ikea Canada recently appointed a new president, Stefan Sjöstrand. His stated mission is to grow Ikea Canada's sales by double-digits over the next few years, and that goal bodes well for Halifax in some way I believe. I'm just not sure if we're on their radar for this format.
"The locations would be similar in size to a standard London Drugs, at about 37,000 square feet, or a tenth the size of a full-size Ikea, but most of that space will be for storage. Unlike a full-size Ikea, the new so-called “pickup” stores will have counters at which Ikea workers will retrieve items for customers who ordered online." says Business Vancouver after an interview with Sjöstrand.
In the same article, retail analyst Craig Patterson says, "it would be brilliant for Ikea to open smaller stores in the urban cores of both Vancouver and Toronto. The brand is well known in both those cities because of the longtime presence of full-size Ikea stores in the suburbs. And both cities have plenty of urban dwellers who do not have cars."
Ikea, in their usual terse and media controlled way, told the Chronicle Herald they will not indicate where any of these stores will wind up, "We are not in a position to announce any details yet,” said spokeswoman Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick. But my reading between the lines gives me the sense that these small format pickup locations are going to be aimed at large cities that are already supported by Ikea infrastructure, and will be about making the shopping experience in those markets more convenient. At least for the near future, until they work the bugs out.
More hopeful for Halifax was this notion, brought up in a November interview with Metro News (Canada). "Sjöstrand didn’t rule out smaller, more urban stores, pointing to 22,000 square-metre stores in France. In Canada, a typical store is 35,000 square metres. We have to look into all the possibilities, he said."
Ikea mega-stores are massive. 35,000 square-metres is on the order of 3-4 times the size of the giant Canadian Tire store in Dartmouth Crossing. They require significant investment on the part of Ikea, a privately owned corporation. A slightly more modest full-sized store, like the 22,000 square-metre (2/3 size) French styled store put in Halifax, in my opinion, would be a good regional anchor for Atlantic Canada. After that, if it makes sense, a few small pickup stores, supported by this anchor, could be opened around Atlantic Canada.
Sources:
Ikea to open string of smaller stores across Canada, Glen Korstrom, Business Vancouver, December15, 2014;
New IKEA Canada president has ambitious new plan, Metro News Canada, November 4,2014;
Ikea broker thinks N.S. will get store, Bill Power, Chronicle Herald, December 19, 2014.
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I've had the oppourtunity to see a variety of sized of IKEA stores.. even "small" ones that I've seen are pretty damn big.
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