Well, this is awkward.
IKEA just announced they're shutting down two UK locations in literally hours, and their reason? "Valuable learnings." God, I hate corporate speak. Just say you messed up and move on.
The Aintree Experiment That Nobody Asked For
Remember when IKEA thought they were being clever back in December 2022? They opened this weird "Plan and Order Point" thing at Aintree Racecourse Retail Park in Liverpool. I actually visited it once – felt like walking into a showroom that forgot to stock anything. The whole concept was kitchen and bedroom planning with some home furnishing guidance thrown in. Basically, you'd go there to plan your dream kitchen but couldn't actually buy a single meatball or those little hex keys we all lose.
The staff seemed confused about what they were supposed to be doing half the time. Poor folks.
Turns out customers wanted something revolutionary: the ability to actually pick up their stuff and return things they didn't want. Who could have predicted that? (Everyone. Literally everyone.)
Stockport Gets the Axe Too
The Stockport location in Merseyway Shopping Centre is also getting the boot on June 16th. That one only opened two years ago, which makes this whole situation even more ridiculous. Someone spent serious money setting these places up just to realize they'd built the retail equivalent of a ghost at a family reunion – technically there, but serving no real purpose.
Now they're telling Stockport customers to drive all the way to Ashton-under-Lyne if they want the full IKEA experience. That's a 30-minute drive on a good day. Or they can collect their flat-pack furniture from Tesco, because apparently that's where we're at now.
What Went Wrong (Besides Everything)
According to IKEA's spokesperson – and I'm paraphrasing here because the original statement was corporate nonsense – people wanted Click and Collect services, a decent selection of stuff to actually buy, and the basic human right to return things that don't fit in their car or their life.
The current locations couldn't offer any of that because of "space constraints." Translation: we rented spaces that were too small for what people actually wanted.
They're promising that future Plan and Order Points in Dundee, Hull, and York will include these revolutionary features. Plus they're opening a small store in Chester later this year, which honestly sounds like they're just throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks.
Meanwhile, in the Canary Islands...
Here's the kicker – while IKEA's closing stores in the UK, they just opened their first hotel in Gran Canaria. Las Dunas de Santa Catalina Boutique House starts at £105 a night and comes with continental breakfast adn IKEA furniture throughout.
I can't decide if sleeping in a bed you could theoretically buy from the lobby is genius or deeply weird. Probably both.
At least the hotel seems to understand what customers want: a place to sleep, food to eat, and the option to buy things if they feel like it. Revolutionary stuff, really.
If you've got purchases waiting at either closing location, you can pick them up from various Tesco stores or trek to the nearest full IKEA. Because nothing says "Swedish design excellence" like collecting your Billy bookshelf from the grocery store car park.
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