ALL GEAR NO IKEA
Ikea forced to delay opening of highly anticipated Oxford Street store amid DIY challenges
It's been a good week for driverless car tech
IKEA is running into its own DIY challenges — forcing it to delay the opening of its highly anticipated Oxford Street store for a second time.
The Swedish flatpack giant will now start trading in the old “big Topshop” site next spring after finding leaks in the basement.
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Ikea snapped it up after Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia went bust in 2021.
But the key spot on the crossroads of the UK’s busiest shopping street will have sat empty for at least four years.
It is another blow to Oxford Street, which has been hit by a swathe of closures and the rise of US sweet shops.
Marks & Spencer is battling with minister Michael Gove over redeveloping its Marble Arch store.
M&S boss Stuart Machin says Oxford Street footfall is down 20 per cent and one in eight shops is vacant.
Ikea initially planned to open last autumn.
It then delayed to this autumn and now has pushed back again.
Ikea UK boss Peter Jelkeby said: “The historic nature of the building makes its careful renovation more complex.”
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It anticipates 1.1million transactions through its portal this year but expects lower advertising revenue as more letting agents and housing associations join the property site.
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Hol lot more
THE owner of British Airways has enjoyed a boom in holiday bookings, helping earnings to soar from £7.7million to £58million in the first three months of this year.
International Airlines Group said holidaymakers were fuelling its recovery from the pandemic and it expected another record summer.
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