Interview: How Ikea’s property arm Ingka Centres is reinventing physical retail
As Ikea’s small-format store in Hammersmith prepares to open its doors next week, Retail Week sits down with Cindy Andersen – boss of the retailer’s sister company and property firm Ingka Centres – to discuss the new concept and how the Covid-19 crisis has reinforced its strategic shift to multi-purpose spaces.
Ingka Centres boss Cindy Andersen wasn’t working at the real-estate development arm of Ikea owner Ingka Group when it acquired what was then Kings Mall in west London in 2019. In fact, she wasn’t even working in retail property, but instead was more than a decade into her time at Ikea of Sweden, part of the group’s retailing arm.
When she took over as Ingka Centres managing director a year ago, the world was more than a year into the coronavirus pandemic.
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