IADS Exclusive: IKEA’s new Oxford Street flagship store - efficient, yet unremarkable

It took IKEA a long time to open stores in city centres. Set to develop from 2002, the first city-centre stores only opened in 2014 in Hamburg and 2019 in Paris, followed by many more. At the heart of this transformation lies a core question: what should an IKEA store look and feel like in the centre of a global city? Beyond simply shrinking its footprint, IKEA seeks to redefine the role of retail within urban ecosystems, from a warehouse to a hub for inspiration, interaction, and services.

With its first store opening in 1987, IKEA is already present in the UK, where it operates 22 stores and employs nearly 12,000 staff. The retailer has five locations in London, adding a sixth one with the much-anticipated London Oxford Street IKEA City store which opened on 1 May 2025, 18 months later than planned. Requiring huge investments, the new store demonstrates the company’s faith in the success of high street outlets. Even London Mayor Sadiq Khan praised the store and considers it a “vote of confidence in London, in our economy and in our plans to rejuvenate Oxford Street”.

The store is the brand’s most significant investment in a single site to date, and most probably its most high-profile store. Announced with much anticipation and fanfare, the store promised to signal a new chapter for IKEA in the heart of London. But does it deliver on that ambition? And how far does it really depart from the IKEA playbook?

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