“Sorry, we’re not open yet”.
I’m walking towards the doors of London’s latest IKEA, right in the heart of British retail, beside Oxford Circus. Spring sunshine has the streets heaving, with nosier shoppers trying to wrench open IKEA’s locked doors, despite standing in the glow of a giant screen that proclaims there are still a few days to go until the official opening.
I signal to the exasperated security guard behind the glass that I’m here for the press preview, and he lets me in as the onlookers mutter and scowl. I can’t blame them. I, too, have been waiting years to see inside.
This prime piece of retail property has sat empty since 2021 since Topshop shut up shop, a moment accompanied by much wailing and fist shaking (where would we get an emergency top now?, many wondered, as if Topshop was the only place on Oxford Street to buy a cute shirt).
Also read: Is Topshop coming back to the UK high street?
Four years of metaphorical tumbleweed bouncing along the empty stretch have come to an end as the Swedish kings of flatpack IKEA finishes its transformation and prepares to cut the ribbon.
So what have they done with the place? Arranged over three storeys, the ground floor showcases a rotating selection of pop-ups unique to the London City store (as the Oxford Circus branch is known) with plenty of space for crowds to mill about. You can buy IKEA merch here too, which may not be to everyone’s taste, but went down a storm when the company opened a small pop-up here in autumn 2024, selling initialled versions of its famous blue plastic Frakta bags.
The cafe, with a menu of meatballs and hot dogs priced so low you have to pinch yourself you’re still in Zone 1, sits opposite the escalators on the first basement level, with room sets inspired by Londoners’ living styles stretching off on either side (there is much emphasis on squeezed square footage, WFH ideas and gaming set-ups).
The market hall sits a level below this, stacked with around 3500 homewares: think kitchen utensils, picture shelves, houseplants, cushion covers, blankets, stuffed animals, storage solutions, and of course, scented candles so cheap that few can resist chucking them into their bright yellow basket.
Walking around IKEA London City is the strangest thing. It feels exactly like wandering around a normal IKEA, but as it’s a quarter of the size of a regular ‘blue box’ store, you won’t have an existential breakdown halfway around, clawing for an escape route (just me?). You don’t have to write off half a day in here, as you might in an IKEA on the outskirts. The idea that you can go up two sets of escalators and emerge right back in the thrum of Oxford Street, and not a retail park where dreams of a chilled weekend go to die, seems, frankly, absurd - in a good way.
“You don’t have to write off half a day in here”
As for worries over a spike in GBH cases as shoppers wrestle giant boxes of flatpack furniture down one of the country’s busiest streets, IKEA has put that to bed. Only a small selection of pieces - bedside tables, stools, side tables - are available to buy in-store, easy to cart home on the bus or tube without much pass-agg. The bigger stuff can be ordered for home delivery.
IKEA’s bosses anticipate the London City store will see a mix of Londoners and tourists, no doubt drawn to the cafe for a cheap meal in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Slices of Daim cake at £2.45, a salmon meal for £6.95, eight veggie meatballs with mash, gravy and lingonberry jam for less than a fiver, the carnivore version a few quid more.
The same customers who once swarmed this hallowed ground for trendy denim and cute tops will now flock to it for budget homeware instead. You could plan a kitchen on your lunch break, stuff your bag in the Market Hall, or just pop in for cinnamon rolls on your way home.
Are there any surprises? There’s no Småland creche, which is probably just as well - some parents might take the concept of free childcare too far while they shop here (or elsewhere). There’s an Outernet-esque alcove with projections beamed onto the white walls, where the 130-person staffed store will hold special events and unboxings. Very much a case of: watch this space.
Me? I’d like to see IKEA hold Lates evenings like the Tate, Science Museum or National Gallery. Perhaps, in time, they might echo a smaller version of Drumsheds, the former IKEA in Tottenham that’s now a 15,000 capacity venue. But considering this is a working shop, that’s probably just wishful thinking.
IKEA already has a central-ish London store in Hammersmith, which opened in early 2022, from which lessons have been learned and applied to the new Oxford Street branch. With fellow Scandi brands Søstrene Grene and a dedicated H&M Home in the vicinity, IKEA should feel right at home.
But really, there’s no telling how it will fare until 10am on May 1 when the doors finally open to the curious public.
I wonder, does riot gear come in flatpack?
