New York (CNN Business)Ikea is ditching its famous Swedish meatballs and cavernous blue-and-yellow stores to crack big cities.
The company announced on Monday that it will open up a 17,530 square-foot showroom on Manhattan’s Upper East Side next spring. The store highlights a different approach for Ikea, which has relied mostly on sprawling 300,000 square-foot stores where customers traverse a labyrinth of aisles full of sofas, cabinetry, appliances an knick-knacks, and can stop to refuel in the food court.
Ikea is overhauling its strategy in order to adapt to the growth of online shopping for affordable housewares and furniture. Competition from players Amazon (AMZN), Wayfair (W), Overstock.com (OSTK) has stiffened, while places like the Container Store (TCS) and Williams-Sonoma (WSM) have squeezed Ikea on smaller home decorations. Target (TGT) has also made a play for kitchen and bathroom purchases online.
