IKEA to host main retailer in bid to draw extra customers

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Your help makes all of the distinction. Learn extra The proprietor of most IKEA shops worldwide, Ingka, has introduced that sports activities retailer Decathlon will open a retailer inside considered one of its British places.

This initiative kinds a part of a trial by the funds furnishings big to combine third-party companies, aiming to draw extra customers.

Ingka is testing whether or not renting house to different manufacturers can enhance visits and monetise its present sq. metres, because it revamps its big shops for value-driven customers.

Ingka Group introduced plans for a Decathlon retailer to open inside the IKEA retailer in Croydon this spring. The Decathlon retailer will likely be a standalone unit with a devoted buyer entrance, spanning 1,188 m² of retail house contained in the 25,000 m² IKEA retailer.

Javier Quinones, Ingka Group's business supervisor, defined: "We consider complementary gives can encourage extra folks to go to our shops and interact with the merchandise in new methods."

Recognized for its conventional out-of-town "blue-box" shops, IKEA has spent the previous decade revamping its codecs, creating smaller inner-city shops and showrooms whereas investing in digital companies to adapt to new purchasing habits.

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/02/24/11/55/FILE-PHOTO-A-employee-of-the-French-sports-retailer-Decathlon-poses-for-media-at-the-new-store-in-Be.jpeg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/02/24/11/55/FILE-PHOTO-A-employee-of-the-French-sports-retailer-Decathlon-poses-for-media-at-the-new-store-in-Be.jpeg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/02/24/11/55/FILE-PHOTO-A-employee-of-the-French-sports-retailer-Decathlon-poses-for-media-at-the-new-store-in-Be.jpeg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="Ingka Group announced plans for a Decathlon store to open within the IKEA store in Croydon" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn"/> open picture in gallery

Ingka Group introduced plans for a Decathlon retailer to open inside the IKEA retailer in Croydon (REUTERS) It has additionally minimize costs throughout a variety of merchandise just lately, in an try to convey again cash-strapped customers. Ingka Group, the principle IKEA franchisee with shops in 32 international locations, reported its lowest annual gross sales final yr since 2021.

Footfall was up 1.3 per cent globally final yr, nevertheless, development which Quinones mentioned IKEA desires to speed up.

A 1,188 sq. metre Decathlon retailer will open in the course of the spring inside IKEA's 25,000 sq. metre retailer in Croydon, south London, IKEA mentioned in a press release.

IKEA will hire out the house, with its personal entrance, to privately owned Decathlon, which is thought for big-box shops that promote tools from tents and bicycles to trainers.

That would be the first time a significant worldwide model is introduced into an IKEA blue-box retailer, although smaller Nordic electronics retailer Kjell & Firm KJELL.ST opened in two Swedish IKEA shops in the course of the autumn.

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/02/24/11/33/IKEA-Decathlon.jpg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/02/24/11/33/IKEA-Decathlon.jpg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/02/24/11/33/IKEA-Decathlon.jpg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="A new Decathlon store will open within the IKEA store in Croydon" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn"/> open picture in gallery

A brand new Decathlon retailer will open inside the IKEA retailer in Croydon (Ingka Group) IKEA mentioned it was additionally revamping its Klagenfurt location in Austria, the place dwelling and backyard specialist Thomas Philipps will open a retailer.

"For this pilot, now we have... chosen tenants with broad enchantment and a powerful dedication to affordability and high quality," mentioned Quinones.