Ikea is buying the former flagship central London store of Topshop for £378m following the collapse of Sir Philip Green's retail empire. The Swedish giant will turn several floors of the huge Oxford Street site into a furniture store as part of a strategy to open inner-city outlets. Ikea said despite the growth of online sales, bricks and mortar remained key. Peter Jelkeby, retail manager of Ikea UK & Ireland, said societies were seeing big changes in the way people live and shop, including soaring online sales and a desire for more local physical outlets. Ikea, famous for its huge out-of-town warehouses, has been trialling inner-city formats across Europe for more than two years. The new store is planned to open in autumn 2023 and will focus on home-furnishing accessories, with the full range available to buy for home delivery. The company opened its first inner-city outlet in Paris in 2019. It also has city centre sites in New York, Toyko, and Madrid, with outlets planned for Vienna, Barcelona, Berlin and Prague. Ikea currently has 22 UK outlets. "Even though online shopping continues to accelerate at a rapid pace, our physical stores - large and small - will always be an essential part of the Ikea experience," said Mr Jelkeby.
