• Latest Ikea order-and-collection point to open at Westfield Stratford City this summer
  • Ikea reportedly interested in acquiring part of the BHS store estate
  • The business plans to test more smaller-format stores during the course of the year

Ikea has revealed plans to open its first store inside a shopping centre as it continues to pilot its small-format sites across the UK.

The Swedish home furnishing retailer will unveil the latest of its order-and-collection points at Westfield Stratford City this summer. The 9,688 sq ft site will be connected to a car park, allowing shoppers to pick up orders by car. 

The first of the new stores, which are considerably smaller than a traditional Ikea, opened in Norwich last November. The second is set to open in Aberdeen later this week and a third unit is planned for Birmingham city centre later this summer.

BHS stores

It is understood that Ikea has registered an interest in purchasing some BHS stores in order to trial further order and collection points, if a buyer for the entire business is not found. 

Ikea’s UK and Ireland property and expansion manager Daniel Lundholm said: “I can confirm that we have not and will not be bidding to buy the BHS business out of administration.

”However, we are exploring a number of other potential locations across the UK for more order and collection points. At the current time we have nothing further to confirm while discussions are ongoing.” 

Administrators for BHS are understood to have had more than 50 expressions of interest, since the business collapsed into adminstration last month. 

As previously reported, Ikea is also believed to be locked in negotiations to take a space at BHS’s Oxford Street store after the beleaguered department store chain sold the lease to Oxford & City Holdings last month.

The Ikea group currently operates from 330 units across 28 countries. It plans to roll out further order-and-collection points in the UK during the course of the year, but a spokesman declined to give further details.