When IKEA says they’re opening a new store at JEM, westies be like:
But then, Covid-19 hits.
Will IKEA still continue with its plans now? Will I finally have IKEA meatballs within 15 minutes of my house?
After all, as my colleague previously mentioned, trying to open a business in Singapore is risky. Trying to do it while it’s Covid-19?
Well, guess what? IKEA isn’t going to stop its plan to open a third outlet at JEM.
IKEA To Carry On Plan To Open 3rd Outlet in S’pore Despite Heavy Losses
Mr Sebastian Hylving, Ikea property and expansion director for South-east Asia and Mexico, said that there’s a special place in IKEA’s heart for Singapore.
Based on their own survey, IKEA is more known here than in any country around the world.
Their two stores, Alexandra and Tampines, get about seven million visits every year.
As far back as 2015, IKEA has been thinking of expanding in Singapore as they saw the potential for growth.
Mr Jaap Doornbos, Ikea retail director for Singapore and Vietnam, pointed out that Covid-19 has hit IKEA the hardest in its 40 years of operations here.
Yes, worse than the global financial crisis and SARS.
The company has made revenue losses “stacked up in the millions”.
Despite all that, Mr Doornbos said that IKEA can “weather through these tough times better than anybody” and they’re going to carry on with the plan to open the third outlet.
We Know S’poreans Still Want The Experience Of Shopping At IKEA
Covid-19 hasn’t been all bad.
In fact, online sales have “more than tripled” in the past two months and the sales of home office products like chairs and desks shot up by 31 per cent.
Mr Doornbos said that the increase in online sales is likely to be “lasting”.
However, IKEA still wants to give Singaporeans the experience of shopping at their stores, whether it be testing out the sofa and chairs, talk to IKEA staff about their home furnishing dreams or just to lie on the bed.
He added that they (IKEA) strongly believe that having a third outlet will bring an added convenience to the customers, allowing them to “drop in and shop on the spot”.
So what’s in store for you (pun intended) for IKEA’s third outlet?
IKEA’s Upcoming Outlet At JEM
With Robinson’s moving out of JEM due to unsustainable losses, many were wondering which business will be taking over the massive space.
Reader Bao: A major Gong Cha outlet that sells chicken wings? Turns out, it’s something better, at least for ball lovers out there.
IKEA revealed that they are going to move in and operate a “smaller” IKEA store format.
The outlet is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2021 and will offer IKEA’s full range of products.
It will not, however, have a built-in warehouse or play area for parents to leave their kids at while they have their couple moments.
Although, let’s be honest here, we only care if there’s a restaurant. There is.
This will be the first time IKEA is trying a store-within-a-shopping-mall concept in the entire region.
Only their stores at Moscow and Macau has similar concepts right now.
So yes, IKEA meatballs are still coming to the west.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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