Scandinavian home furnishings company, IKEA, has opened a brand new store in Stockport.
It opened on 21 March, and is part of Stockport’s “ambitious £1bn regeneration programme.”
This new store is based in the Mersey-way shopping centre and is a new and smaller version of the original IKEA shops, newly named ‘Plan and order points.’
Michael Parker, Area Manager, IKEA UK, said: “Our investment in the North West is part of our long-term plan to transform our retail business, continuing to make it easier for people to enjoy what IKEA offers using a variety of convenient ways.”
The area manager made it clear it was important to him to focus on the North West as part of a bigger plan to make the area more accessible and revolutionise it, this comes at a suitable time as Stockport redevelop their town centre.
He furthered this point and said: “North West is a key region for us, being home to over seven million people, and also being the place that IKEA first opened a UK store, 35 years ago in Warrington.”
As well as Manchester being the first UK store IKEA opened, its also the second to open one of its ‘plan and order points’ after one was opened in aintree Liverpool last December.
The concept of the new smaller store is based on the insights of what people In Greater Manchester want their dream kitchen/home interior to look like.
The company in Stockport offer kitchen planning appointments, free of charge, as well as an assembly and installation service.
These appointments must be booked in advance during their opening hours between Monday and Sunday.
Parker also said “we’re enabling an IKEA that’s there for our customers, however they want to meet us.”
Unfortunately though, so far this new idea has not gone down successfully with the North West community.
With some taking to twitter to express their opinions:
