Ikea's first "planning studio" in the United States is slated to open on Monday on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It will be one of 30 smaller urban stores Ikea plans to open in the next few years.
The retailer's traditional stores are around 300,000 square-feet. But its latest store in New York will be 17,350 square-feet. Ikea is downsizing to attract city shoppers who may want to visit a store, but don't own a car or want to drive to the outskirts.
In the New York store, customers will be able to walk through showrooms mimicking local apartments and make appointments to get design help. But they won't be able to take their purchases or Swedish meatballs home with them. Most items in the store will be available for delivery only. And it doesn't have a cafe.
"IKEA is very conscious that they have to make more effort to be where people want them to be," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail told CNN Business when the store was first announced in December. "The old big store model was very 'build it and they will come.' But that no longer applies."
Ikea isn't the first big box store to shrink its footprint to get close to urban shoppers.
Target (TGT) has opened smaller stores in big cities and near college campuses. Dollar General's (DG) opened 'DGX' stores in Nashville, Raleigh and Philadelphia that are about half the size of its other stores. And Kohl's has also cut down the size of its stores and is leasing the extra space to Planet Fitness.
-— CNN Business' Nathaniel Meyersohn contributed to this story.
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