IKEA hopes to open new-format Aberdeen store by Christmas

It has been reported that IKEA’S new base in Aberdeen will be more than 5,000 sq m in size if plans are approved, the Evening Express can reveal today.

As previously reported in the Evening Express, the Swedish furniture giant hopes to open its first Aberdeen base by Christmas, after the firm expressed an interest in taking over part of the site currently held by Makro.

New images of how the store will look have now been revealed, as well as more details on the plan for the site.

The proposal is that the IKEA store would take up 5,874 sq m – about the size of a football pitch – of the Makro store at Wellington Industrial Estate in Nigg.

The majority of the footprint will consist of an order and collection point, which will be 4,274 sq m in size, with the remaining 1,600 sq m comprising a showroom and sales area, as well as a cafe and toilets.

The remainder of the space will be split with a downsized Makro taking up a part of it and a smaller supermarket in the remaining 929 to 1,579 sq m of floor space.

Those who could be offered the chance to occupy this area once IKEA is established include retailers M&S Simply Food, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose. Plans to split the Makro site into two separate stores were approved in June this year, but the application has been amended to further split the site into three to accommodate IKEA and the two supermarkets.

A planning statement to Aberdeen City Council from Ryden on behalf of Cyan Properties Limited states: “There has been much speculation over many years regarding the prospects of IKEA opening a store in the North-east.

“Presently, they have two large format stores located in Edinburgh and Glasgow, which serve Scotland.

“The population of the North-east is insufficient to sustain a larger format store in addition to those in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

“However, recently IKEA have developed a new concept in retailing whereby the main focus is on online shopping, with home delivery or collection at a home delivery hub.”

The statement adds: “The opening of such a store at Wellington Circle will satisfy a long-standing demand in the North-east and should be supported.

“The access and egress arrangements proposed for the supermarket and downsized Makro unit will be retained, with minor changes to the car park layout to accommodate customer collection.

“IKEA’s pre-requisite for developing such a facility is the availability of an existing building and the capability of being open for trading by Christmas.”

Source : Andy McLaren - Aberdeen Evening Express
www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/ikea-could-be-the-size-of-a-football-pitch/