Ikea Canada will continue its small format expansion in Canada with a new location in the Scarborough Town Centre in the inner suburbs of Toronto.
The 80,000-square-foot store, set to open next summer, will be a ground floor location at the shopping centre's northeast end and will become the company's second small-format store in Canada.
"We are grateful Canadians are returning to connecting in person," said Michael Ward, chief executive and chief sustainability officer of Ikea Canada, in a statement. "And are pleased to announce our continued Canadian expansion. The planned Scarborough store is part of our broader investment in sustainability, affordability, and omnichannel shopping experiences that help to make us more accessible to our customers."
Ikea announced in March 2021 its plans to open a downtown location, and CoStar later revealed the real estate arm of the retail giant paid $100 million for the 132,070-square-foot site at 382 Yonge St.
The downtown store has more than 2,000 Ikea products to purchase on the spot with larger furniture items on display and available for home delivery.
Ikea Canada said its national store visits have increased 123% to 26 million and sales increased 1.3% to $2.6 billion in the financial year that ended Aug. 31.
The retailer said its smaller-scaled retail concept could bring the Ikea experience to urban residents and has become popular with hundreds of thousands of customers who have visited the downtown store since it opened in May 2022.
Ikea Canada is part of Ingka Group, which operates 389 stores in 32 countries, including 15 in Canada.
Statistics Canada reported last month that retail sales across the country increased 0.7% to $61.8 billion in August from a month earlier It predicts a 0.5% decline when September results are released.