Latest news with #PlanAndOrder
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Beloved furniture chain shuts number of concept locations
By IKEA is closing more of its smaller-format stores in both the UK and California, as the global retail shakeup continues to claim big names. The Swedish furniture giant confirmed it is shutting down three of its Plan & Order Points locations this month — two in the UK and one in the US. The Liverpool and Stockport stores closed last week, and the final US location in Long Beach is set to shutter for good this Sunday. Launched in 2023, the concept aimed to give customers a more tailored experience — with smaller showrooms where shoppers could meet with design specialists, place custom orders, and collect items. But the company says the format no longer fits customer demand. 'There's been a shift toward Click and Collect, smaller accessory shopping, and on-site returns — all of which these compact stores couldn't fully support,' an IKEA spokesperson told TheStreet . IKEA had opened 10 of these Plan & Order locations by the end of 2024 but is now reassessing the model as consumers demand more convenience and fewer in-person touchpoints. The sudden closures come following the backlash IKEA received for a controversial Passover Seder post on social media. The first IKEA store opened in 1958 in Sweden, and expanded to the US in 1985. It has grown into a furniture empire and operates approximately 485 locations, 74 being in the US. IKEA finished off its fiscal 2024 year with $5.5 billion in US revenue, a large decline from its $6.3 billion earnings in 2023. However, it continues to be a strong competitor against other chains like At Home, competition that was on the brink of bankruptcy in May before ultimately filing earlier this month . 'While the furnishing market has been under pressure, IKEA is a far stronger retailer than many out there. And it remains extremely popular because of its value for money position,' GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders told Saunders believes its reach in the US is one of its biggest challenges, but that Plan & Order stores are more beneficial than money losing. 'The Plan & Order Points are ways of filling in gaps and allowing people to have an IKEA experience outside of the main shops,' he said. 'They are very important for high-touch services where people like to meet in person to do things like design kitchens.' IKEA is not letting these few shutters not falter their initial expansion plans. In fact, the chain is planning to open more Plan & Order Points stores rather than close them. As of now, the latest Plan & Order Points opening was in Pennsylvania last week, and its next opening will be in Maryland in July. The chain will be opening other large-format stores in Texas and Arizona between this year and 2026. IKEA's store openings is a twist compared to other retailers affected by tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump . Macy's, which sells a variety of furniture, is in the process of shuttering up to 150 stores to save itself from financial ruin. JCPenney, another furniture seller, has been undergoing mass closures after surviving its 2020 bankruptcy filing . has reached out to IKEA for comment about the store closures.
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Beloved furniture chain shuts number of concept locations as retail bloodbath continues
IKEA is closing more of its smaller-format stores in both the UK and California, as the global retail shakeup continues to claim big names. The Swedish furniture giant confirmed it is shutting down three of its Plan & Order Points locations this month — two in the UK and one in the US. The Liverpool and Stockport stores closed last week, and the final US location in Long Beach is set to shutter for good this Sunday. Launched in 2023, the concept aimed to give customers a more tailored experience — with smaller showrooms where shoppers could meet with design specialists, place custom orders, and collect items. But the company says the format no longer fits customer demand.. 'There's been a shift toward Click and Collect, smaller accessory shopping, and on-site returns — all of which these compact stores couldn't fully support,' an IKEA spokesperson told TheStreet. IKEA had opened 10 of these Plan & Order locations by the end of 2024 but is now reassessing the model as consumers demand more convenience and fewer in-person touchpoints. The sudden closures come following the backlash IKEA received for a controversial Passover Seder post on social media. The first IKEA store opened in 1958 in Sweden, and expanded to the US in 1985. It has grown into a furniture empire and operates approximately 485 locations, 74 being in the US. IKEA finished off its fiscal 2024 year with $5.5 billion in US revenue, a large decline from its $6.3 billion earnings in 2023. However, it continues to be a strong competitor against other chains like At Home, competition that was on the brink of bankruptcy in May before ultimately filing earlier this month. 'While the furnishing market has been under pressure, IKEA is a far stronger retailer than many out there. And it remains extremely popular because of its value for money position,' GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders told Saunders believes its reach in the US is one of its biggest challenges, but that Plan & Order stores are more beneficial than money losing. 'The Plan & Order Points are ways of filling in gaps and allowing people to have an IKEA experience outside of the main shops,' he said. 'They are very important for high-touch services where people like to meet in person to do things like design kitchens.' IKEA is planning to open more concept stores this year and large-format stores between 2025 and 2026 IKEA is not letting these few shutters not falter their initial expansion plans. In fact, the chain is planning to open more Plan & Order Points stores rather than close them. As of now, the latest Plan & Order Points opening was in Pennsylvania last week, and its next opening will be in Maryland in July. The chain will be opening other large-format stores in Texas and Arizona between this year and 2026. IKEA's store openings is a twist compared to other retailers affected by tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Macy's, which sells a variety of furniture, is in the process of shuttering up to 150 stores to save itself from financial ruin.
The Sun
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
IKEA announces sudden closure of UK store that opened just two years ago after customer backlash
IKEA has announced it is closing down a UK store it opened just two years ago following a backlash from customers. The famous Swedish homewares retailer has confirmed the Plan and Order point at the Stockport Merseyway Shopping Centre will cease in just a fortnight's time on June 16. The store in Greater Manchester is a smaller outlet than its usual out-of-town locations and is focused on kitchen, bedroom and living room planning. The aim was to provide somewhere for customers to go to get advice and expertise on home furnishing and somewhere where they could design their ideal fittings and get individual 3D interior plans from the interior designers. According to IKEA, the decision to close the store permanently was made due to 'a result of valuable learnings' where the company recognised their customers wanted a different retail experience, more along the lines of Click and Collect and return services. While the Stockport branch will close for good, other Plan and Order points, such as the ones in Dundee, York and Hull, will be adapted to meet those new demands and also include a small range of home furnishing accessories to buy. The current Stockport customers are now being directed to the next nearest main IKEA store, the branch in Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside. Locals can also now pick up their IKEA purchases from Tesco Extra in Stockport and the Tesco Extra in Stretford as part of Click and Collect. Salma Azad, IKEA area manager said: 'After careful evaluation, we've made the difficult decision to close the IKEA Plan and Order Point at Merseyway Shopping Centre. 'In the two years since opening, we've taken valuable learnings, including how our customers prefer to meet IKEA, and we'll take these insights into future openings, to serve shoppers in a more impactful way. 'I want to sincerely thank all of the customers that have shopped with us in this time. IKEA Manchester, a store locals know and love, will continue to be the closest hub for home planning, meatballs and everything in between.' Bosses had hoped the Plan and Order in Stockport would 'become more accessible and sustainable for customers in the north west'. I did a haul of the new Oxford Street Ikea whilst on my lunch break & I managed to kit out with bargains under £3 However, it did come under criticism from some shoppers. In a Facebook post about the closure, one person wrote: 'I'm not surprised to be honest. It is very small.' While a second added: 'It wasn't the right shop for that place, they'd have been better off setting up an IKEA homeware and food shop there!' A third critic said: 'Really don't know why it opened in the first place. Pointless.' The news comes after IKEA opened its own hotel in the Canary Islands. The location offers cheap rooms, a swimming pool and breakfast is included while also offering some of their most popular homeware items. Why are retailers closing stores? RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis. High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going. However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector. The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024. End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker. It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date. This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023. It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns. The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker. Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations. Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes. Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
