In a first for North America, the world’s largest furniture maker is opening a pickup store in London where shoppers can pick up online orders, order furnishings and even do a little shopping. Norman De Bono reports.

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It’s a changing world for shoppers and London’s landing of the first Ikea pickup store in North America is an example of that, industry watchers say.

At the store, which is to open late this year at Southdale and Wonderland roads, in the former Angelo’s, shoppers will be able to place orders, pick up online orders and even do a little shopping. The store will feature 99 of Ikea’s most popular items for sale onsite, Ikea Canada president Stefan Sjostrand said Tuesday.

It’s all about serving buyers who shop from their couch at home, saving them from making trips down Hwy. 401 to Ikea stores in Burlington or Toronto, said Carmi Levy, technology analyst with Voices.com.

“Retail is undergoing the most significant change in its history, thanks largely to the expansion of online shopping and increasing popularity. It means traditional barriers between online and bricks-and-mortar stores are evaporating,” Levy said.

In its place are rising “hybrid” retailers with small storefronts with an online presence, such as the Best Buy Mobile store in Masonville Mall.

“There will be different physical models. What IKEA is doing recognizes the rise of the online economy,” Levy said.

But the big stores are still the backbone of IKEA’s business, said Sjostrand, and while pickup stores won’t replace them, they’ll make shopping easier.

“We are in a fantastic situation now. We have increased store visitation and sales are up in stores,” he said.

Store sales will rise 8% and visits are up 3% this year, he added. Traffic at IKEA.ca is up 25%and e-commerce sales have jumped 40%.

A recent Canada Post survey shows that in 2014, 76% of Canadian households shopped online and about one-quarter of those are “frequent shoppers” online, Levy said.

London landed the IKEA store because its demographic profile makes it the ideal test market, said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp.

“It’s a new concept IKEA is rolling out and London is only one of a handful to get this. It is exciting for us,” Lakhotia said.

“They looked at our demographics, our profile, our population and spending levels, employment mix — all these make London an interesting test market to roll out new products, concepts and ideas.”

Thursday, IKEA will announce its second pickup store in Canada.

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LONDON STORE

At 1,860 square metres, it’s one-tenth the size of a regular Ikea.

Opening this year at Wonderland and Southdale roads.

Goods can be ordered, picked up; limited shopping

20 staff.

75 home furnishing displays.

10 tablets available on site to order goods.

IKEA NUMBERS

361: Stores in more than 50 countries, 821 million visitors annually

12: Stores under Ikea Canada, 25 million visitors a year

1943: Founded; opened in Canada in 1976 in Vancouver

1.6 billion: Visitors to Ikea.com website; 60 million to Ikea.ca

Ikea Canada president Stefan Sjostrand, who moved to Canada from Sweden nine months ago, sat down with The Free Press to talk about Ikea’s new London store.

Q: Why did you choose London for your new retail concept?

We have many loyal customers coming to the Burlington store from London and e-commerce from London. That means we have a lot of customers from London. It became natural for us to support the customers already in London. It is Canada’s 11th biggest city. It is a miniature of Canada, a good test market for us as a company.

Q: How will the pickup model work?

A pickup-point has a big showroom to see and get inspired and buy on Ikea.ca. They can purchase 99 articles for immediate take away, the most popular items. The great things about a pickup-point is they can sit home on the sofa (and) order at Ikea.ca. Customers can come in and browse and order products there and get support from workers if they have questions about products and colour.

Q: Besides increasing sales, does the London location raise your profile with more shoppers?

The ambition is to make Ikea more accessible to the many Canadians. The pickup points allow Ikea to expand quickly into markets that have been identified as having potential, resulting in consumers having easier access to our products.

Q: Do you see growing this store in the future?

It’s important we focus now on the pickup point. A store can take years to open, but this allows us to expand quickly into this market we identify as having potential. We think this is a growing hub.

Q: How much is the trend toward online sales impacting this decision?

The retail landscape is changing really fast. There are a lot of technology changes going on at the moment and changes as to how customers want to shop . . . customers expect retailers like Ikea to meet this new reality.

WHAT THEY SAID

“I think Londoners should see this as a real indication there is confidence in this market. Ikea is very careful with their investment and have made a significant strategic decision to invest in London. I think this investment reflects where we are as a local economy.”

London Mayor Matt Brown

“Every developer across Southwestern Ontario was going after Ikea for a long time, including us. One of their agents called us and said they were looking for space for a new concept. We met a number of times and we signed them. This is good for London.”

Vito Frijia, president of Southside Group, landlord for the store