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Huge news for anyone who has had the misfortune of having to schlep back from IKEA Wembley on public transport with a Kallax shelving unit, a Tjusig shoe rack, two houseplants, and a giant blue Frakta bag full of ‘kitchen bits’; Sweden’s blue-and-yellow flatpack mecca has finally announced the opening date for its Oxford Street store.
Taking over the former Topshop flagship at 214 Oxford Street, the city centre outpost will offer the ‘traditional IKEA experience’ that we Brits all know and love, with three floors of showrooms, a market space stocking more than 3,500 items of bargain homeware and, of course, a 130-seater Swedish deli where you can unwind after your inevitable wardrobe-induced argument over meatballs with lingonberry jam and those iconic 75p hot dogs.
When is Oxford Street IKEA opening?
Ikea announced this morning that the Oxford Street store will open on Thursday May 1 2025. This follows the imminent closure of the ‘Hus of Frakta’ pop-up celebrating the brand’s famous blue carrier bags, which has been installed on the building’s ground floor since last November.
Visitors wanting to check out the pop-up still have a few days left to do so, before it closes this Sunday March 23 ahead of the building’s final transformations.
There’s no word yet as to what kind of opening celebrations Ikea might have planned for the new store, but after such a long wait we’re thoroughly expecting them to roll out the blue and yellow carpet to mark the occasion, so watch this space! And if anyone from Ikea is reading this, free meatballs would be very well received.
Why has the new store been so delayed?
First hinted at all the way back in 2015, Ikea Oxford Street was originally slated to open in autumn 2023, before being further delayed to autumn 2024 and finally to its new opening date. But the near-decade-long wait has been for good reason.
The store’s long-awaited opening follows a painstaking three-year renovation of the historic building, which the brand purchased in early 2022 for an estimated £378 million. A serious undertaking involving not just the 5,800-square-metre Ikea store, but four floors of office space and three additional retail outlets, the restoration project aimed to enhance the building’s environmental performance while preserving its Grade II-listed heritage features.
Alongside replacing gas-fired boilers with eco-friendly air-source heat pumps and installing secondary glazing for better insulation, the project has included meticulous restorations of the building’s historic façade. Most notably, this has involved the restoration of its original Victorian roof lantern, which is now protected with a contemporary covering to improve the building’s energy efficiency and ensure this stunning original feature is preserved for years to come, while the building’s heritage lift lobbies have also been fitted with modern mechanisms to meet current safety standards.
We truly can’t wait to see the results!
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