Latest news with #andOrder
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
IKEA announces sudden closure of UK store that opened just two years ago after customer backlash
One unhappy customer described the outlet as being 'pointless' PACKING UP IKEA announces sudden closure of UK store that opened just two years ago after customer backlash Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) 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. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 IKEA is closing its Plan and Order outlet in Stockport (file photo) Credit: Getty 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."
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IKEA is opening 11 new stores in 2025, but why not in Iowa?
IKEA is opening more stores in the United States in 2025, but once again, Iowa did not make the list of states to get a new location of the Swedish furniture chain. Five new IKEA locations opened in America in 2025 and there are six more to come before the end of the year, the retailer told USA TODAY. There could be another two stores to open in 2026 and possibly more in the new year. New store openings range from large-format to Plan and Order points, which are smaller stores compared to traditional IKEA stores. The Plan and Order points tend to be less than 5,000 square feet in comparison to its stores that can be bigger than 300,000 square feet, an IKEA spokesperson told the Register. There are no plans for a new IKEA of any form to come to Iowa, a spokesperson from IKEA told the Register in an email. "We continuously test, explore, and develop our IKEA formats and take learnings from each new customer meeting point that we open, so that we constantly improve – becoming even more accessible and convenient for our customers throughout the country," the email to the Register state. "At this time, there are not any plans for a location in the Des Moines, IA area. However, IKEA is committed to reaching even more of the many people how and where they want to meet us." The three Plan and Order points with pick-up opening include: Cherry Hill, New Jersey: Opening in June Beaverton, Oregon: Opening in June Hunt Valley, Maryland: Opening in July The three large-format stores opening include: San Marcos, Texas: Opening in July McAllen, Texas: Opening in October Dallas, Texas: Opening in December The two large-format stores so far set to open in 2026 include: Rockwall, Texas Phoenix, Arizona New Plan and Order locations have already opened in Scottsdale, Arizona and Thousand Oaks, Ontario and Colma, all in California. In the past, IKEA has told the Register that population size is key factor in determining where it builds new stores. IKEA required at least 2 million people live within a 40- to 60-mile radius to open a new store, according to reporting from the Des Moines Register in 2018. The Des Moines metro is the closest contender for an IKEA in Iowa, and it still misses the mark by more than half of IKEA's population quota. In the 2023, the Des Moines metro's population was 767,164. An IKEA spokesperson declined to say whether it still uses the 2 million population requirement or to provide other specifics on how it determines locations. All new locations for 2025 would meet the 2 million population requirement. While there are no IKEA stores in Iowa, there is a pick up location that opened in 2023. The location at 7305 SE Crosswinds Drive, Ankeny, allows Iowans can pick up IKEA orders locally according to the IKEA website. There is also another pick-up location in Omaha, Nebraska, for those in western Iowa. Here are the closest IKEA stores for Iowans: Bloomington, Minnesota (Minneapolis): 8000 IKEA Way Merriam, Kansas (Kansas City): 6000 IKEA Way Bolingbrook, Illinois (Chicago): 750 E. Boughton Schaumburg, Illinois (Chicago): 1800 McConnor Parkway Reporting contributed by Gabe Hauari. Kate Kealey is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at kkealey@ or follow her on Twitter at @Kkealey17. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 11 new IKEA stores opening in 2025. Why now Iowa?
NDTV
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Joshua Jackson, Jodie Turner-Smith Finalise Divorce After 5 Years Of Marriage
Los Angeles: Hollywood actors Joshua Jackson and Jodie Turner-Smith have finally arrived at the settlement in their divorce. However, they are yet to arrive at a mutual consensus when it comes to their daughter's education, reports 'People' magazine. The 'Dawson's Creek' alum, 46, and the Queen & Slim actress, 38, have agreed to the terms of their split, according to legal documents obtained by 'People' though the couple has yet to agree on where their daughter, 4-year-old Juno, will be going to school. TMZ was first to report the news. The couple has agreed that they'll use a mediator to plan a schedule for the 50-50 custody of their daughter, that Joshua will pay $2,787 in child support and that there will be no monthly spousal support, rather a lump sum. In addition to the terms the couple has agreed on, Turner-Smith also claims, in other court documents, that Jackson has pushed back on a court order regarding her making the decision tied to where their daughter will go to school. Representatives for both Turner-Smith and Jackson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. As per 'People', in the declaration, Turner-Smith said that she and her former husband "participated in a full-day mediation" with a judge in May 2024 and resolved their "temporary custody issues" for their daughter's 2024-25 school year. Following the judge's term with them, both Turner-Smith and Jackson later entered "into a Stipulation and Order to resolve the issue of selection of Juno's school', with Turner-Smith writing that it authorized her "to make the final decision" regarding their daughter's education. She wrote in the document, "As such, I have the clear authority to make the school selection in Juno's best interest, and Josh is refusing to adhere to the terms of the Stipulation and Order and is depriving me of the right to select the school'.
