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Comment by JonathonW | Hacker News Reader

Does IKEA do smaller-format stores anywhere? Even the "small" (relatively) IKEA in Memphis, TN is still a 270,000 square foot space-- close to double the footprint of the Costco next door, and two stories in a good chunk of the building.

It seems to me like it would be hard to scale an IKEA down-- the showroom side needs to be large because assembled furniture is large, and the warehouse side also needs to be large to stock everything (unless IKEA changes up their business model to do everything by delivery, but then they've lost their big distinction from all the other furniture stores around).

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> Does IKEA do smaller-format stores anywhere?

In central Paris, there is one: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ikea-france-store/ikea-op... - I'm guessing it is slightly experimental.

Also, the Ikea In Vélizy (southwest suburb of Paris) only has kitchen & bathroom. It is smaller than a standard Ikea but not city-center small.

Not necessarily. Ikea furniture has the principal advantage of being sized for the spaces you'd commonly find in cities. Typical furniture from a US furniture store wouldn't fit in my apartment. My Ikea "bedroom set" consisted of under-bed storage and a bed frame with slats. And my couch had enough storage under it that I kept all my hiking equipment in my living room. It was fantastic.

There’s a small scale IKEA already in NYC. It’s situated uptown in a relatively high priced area and likely because of that, somehow the furniture and decor looks much nicer. I think it’s the same furniture but somehow through some well planed interior design it just looks nicer.

There used to be a small IKEA on the high street in central Uppsala (Sweden) in the late 1980s, and a larger one outside the city. The small shop went away around 1990, no idea why since it's a university town where everyone gets around on bicycles.

https://windsorite.ca/2020/01/ikea-windsor-to-close/

There are "city Ikeas" in several places, at least Hamburg, Coventry, and Taipei. It's pretty recent though.

Central Rome has smaller format store which mostly has kitchen stuff.

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