An IKEA store is set to open a store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue in New York, known for its high-end luxury stores.
Ingka Investments, a subsidiary of IKEA’s parent company Ingka Group, announced on July 1 that it had secured a minority stake in the new building on Fifth Avenue.
Ingka Investments is a company that owns most of the IKEA store ownership rights worldwide.
They announced that IKEA will open a meeting place with customers on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Despite the trend towards online shopping, more companies, including French luxury conglomerate LVMH, are opening brick-and-mortar stores in major cities worldwide. IKEA is joining this trend.
According to the Financial Times (FT), Ingka Investments will own one-third of the building at 570 Fifth Avenue, which has a total area of approximately 9,290 square meters.
The U.S. real estate developer Extell Development Company owns the remaining two-thirds stake.
The building is expected to start moving in 2028.
Ingka Investments announced in a press release that it will own the approximately 7,400-square-meter store that will enter the Fifth Avenue building. However, the investment plan is still in its early stages so that the exact store location may change.
IKEA reported opening more than 70 meeting places with customers worldwide last year, including small-format stores, pop-up stores that open and close briefly, and planning studios.
IKEA explained that the reason for expanding offline stores is to allow customers to receive direct consultations and place orders.
Last year, IKEA announced plans to open eight large stores and nine small planning studios in the U.S., aiming to surpass Germany as its largest market.
However, it remains uncertain whether IKEA will succeed in New York.
IKEA has tasted defeat several times in New York City.
It closed a planning studio store on Manhattan’s East Side less than three years after opening in 2022 due to high rents and fewer visitors than expected.
IKEA also closed a store in Queens around the same time, less than two years after opening.
Currently, IKEA only has a store in Brooklyn, New York City.
Meanwhile, IKEA started in Sweden but moved its headquarters to the Netherlands in 1983.
