Headlines

IKEA Unveils New Downtown Format

Retailer aiming to create urban meeting places through store design

Published

2 years ago

February 28, 2022

VMSD Staff

IKEA (Delft, The Netherlands) has lifted the curtain on a new store concept in a West London shopping mall that presents the furniture retailer’s urban vision, Forbes writes.

IKEA calls the concept “Livat,” meaning a “lively gathering” in Swedish. The retailer’s first cashless store in the U.K., it’s about a quarter of the size of a traditional store and features only self-serve checkouts, the article says. Additional urban formats are planned for San Francisco and Toronto.

Cindy Anderson, the Managing Director of Ingka Centres, the real estate division of IKEA parent Ingka Group, told the outlet:

“Our urban meeting places have been designed to reflect modern inner-city lifestyles, with more regular visits and fewer journeys by car. … Meeting places are more important than ever, we have to get away from this idea of either/or for online and physical space. We completely believe in building places where people will create memories together. Livat is designed to be both of the community and a destination.”

Read more at Forbes.

VMSD Staff

Drawing on more than 125 years of history serving the retail design market, VMSD magazine provides retail professionals with the most up-to-date, innovative retail design ideas and industry news through its industry-leading magazine, website, social media channels and bulletins.

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