Ikea moves to the alpine regions
After ten years, Ikea wants to open stores in Switzerland again. The focus is on new formats and locations outside the urban centers.
Ikea will open two new locations in Switzerland this year and next: A planning studio is scheduled to open its doors in the Steinbock Shopping Center in Chur in the fall. In the 565-square-meter showroom, the focus will be on a consulting and planning service for kitchens, closets and mattresses, the furnishing company says. In addition, all products from the range could be ordered on site and either delivered to the customer's home or picked up at a pick-up point.
According to the company, the Ikea planning studio is the first format of its kind in Switzerland. There are comparable service points in London, Berlin and Oslo, for example. Axa, the owner of the Steinbock Shopping Center, is delighted: it is proud that Ikea is now offering the new format in Chur, of all places, after selected world cities. "It complements the existing offer and the branch mix in the center in the best possible way and will be a big crowd puller in the foreseeable future," Frederick Widl, Head of Real Estate at Axa, is convinced.
At the same time, Ikea plans to submit the building application for its tenth store this spring. It is to be built in the Valais municipality of Riddes. The furniture store will cover an area of 23,000 square meters and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2023. Ikea has already purchased the building plot in 2019.
The two new openings are the next step in Ikea Switzerland's expansion strategy, the company said. It wants to better develop the Alpine region and meet changing customer needs with a higher online and service share. Ikea currently operates nine stores in all parts of the country, as well as a distribution center in Itingen. The last location in Rothenburg was opened ten years ago. (ah)
