Home furnishing store IKEA announced on Monday (May 11) that it’s opening a new small-store concept – the first of its kind in Southeast Asia – at Jem in 2021.
This will make it the third IKEA store in Singapore, with the other two at Tampines and Alexandra. At 6,500 sq m, the new small-store concept will span three floors in the shopping mall.
A spokesperson from Landlease, the mall’s landlord, told CNA Lifestyle that IKEA is a replacement tenant for Robinsons, which is set to close its Jem outlet by the end of August.
According to Jaap Doornbos, IKEA’s retail director for Singapore and Vietnam, this is the first time the company is establishing a smaller store format as a tenant within a shopping centre in the region.
The store will be organised in a new way, combining everything the brand has to offer for each core area of the home into one department, making it easy for customers to shop.
While this concept lacks the playground or built-in warehouse of the other two main branches, the store will still have the popular IKEA Restaurant to serve up those delicious Swedish meatballs, fried chicken wings and sustainable seafood.
Doornbos added: “There are only a few other IKEA stores like it in the world today! It will be easier than ever for people to just pop in for some inspiration, home furnishing products and, of course, our Swedish meatballs.”
The two stores in Tampines and Alexandra now attract close to 7 million visits a year.