IKEA has completed its purpose-built store on Ellen Stirling Boulevard in Innaloo, four years after the decision was made to relocate.
The $130 million project, undertaken by LEX Property, has a total retail space of 26,600 square metres, more than four times the size of the recently closed store in Osborne Park.
The two-storey building was modelled according to international specifications for a standard full-size IKEA store, according to WA store manager Alan Buckle.
It will allow the company’s full standard range of 6,500 products to be displayed – significantly more than the 4,500 products available at its old store.
Mr Buckle said that, while it was difficult to predict future revenue growth, the new store could be expected to generate between 30 per cent and 50 per cent more turnover than the Osborne Park store, based on store relocations in other states.
“This store will give us the opportunity to grow the business quite significantly – potentially, in the top range with larger cities around Australia,” he said.
IKEA expects a substantial increase in customers.
About 5,000 customers passed through the old store on a busy Saturday, while the new store is expected to have up to 10,000 visitors on busy days
One of the key improvements, Mr Buckle said, was car parking facilities. The new store has 992 car bays, about half of these undercover.
“Car parking space was really challenging at the old store. We did squeeze every car bay out of the space we could,” he said.
A 470-seat restaurant has been constructed at the front of the building, while a 150-seat restaurant for staff has been built next door.
External to the main building, a self-service warehouse has been built for larger items.
Mr Buckle said although rising construction costs had affected decisions around design, the project had been completed on budget.
IKEA will lease the store from Lex Property.
