(Kyodo) _ Swedish furniture retail giant Ikea will open its second outlet in Japan on Sept. 15 in Yokohama, west of Tokyo, following the
launch of its first outlet in Chiba Prefecture in late April, which has so far drawn more than 2.3 million visitors, Ikea officials said Friday. The Yokohama store in the city’s Tsuzuki Ward will feature 69 fully furnished model rooms, three having the exact same dimensions as those of houses in the neighborhood, to present solutions for Japan’s housing conditions, said Lars Petersson, retail manager of Ikea Japan K.K., and Eva-Lotta Sjostedt, manager of the new store.
The new four-story store with a floor space of 40,000 square meters will offer about 10,000 furniture and home furnishing items. The range of products will not differ greatly from that of the Chiba outlet, they said.
Petersson declined to disclose the sales data of the first store in Funabashi in line with the company’s policy, but said that he believes Japanese consumers’ purchasing behavior is not different from that of consumers in other countries. “People are appreciating the Scandinavian lifestyle as people in other countries appreciate it,” he said.
The retail manager also said that Japanese consumers are “very much inclined to follow the Ikea concept” of delivering and assembling products by themselves, as they know price levels of the items are set lower because of the system.
Petersson added that Ikea Japan has been “looking into the possibility” of starting an online shopping service in the future. The company has received many inquiries on the idea, but the firm needs to prepare the necessary logistics and transportation network to launch the service, he said.
Before the second store opening, Ikea will exhibit six room sets in front of Yokohama’s Red Brick Warehouse from Saturday to Sept. 9.
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Ikea Japan is scheduled to open a third store in Japan on Port Island in Kobe in 2015 and plans to operate four to six stores each in the Tokyo and Kansai metropolitan regions in five year’s time.
