IKEA, a Swedish furnishing giant, is planning to launch India’s sixth physical store in Pune. India’s branch of the firm has leased around 37,000 square feet of space at Pune’s Phoenix Marketcity mall in Viman Nagar.
As per registration documents accessed by CRE Matrix, a whopping monthly rent of Rs 38 lakh has been decided for the Viman Nagar space. And the documents mention the lease validity for 59 months.
Phoenix Mills Limited owns the Phoenix Marketcity and the Phoenix Millennium Mall in Wakad as well. It also has malls in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Indore, and is now expanding to Kolkata.
IKEA is a multinational (MNC) company that sells home furnishing products and is a major contender in the furniture industry. Its products are known for their simplicity and affordability.
In addition to furniture manufacturing, IKEA is also following food and beverage offerings at its stores in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Navi Mumbai.
It also has smaller outlets known as ‘city store’ at Pacific Mall in West Delhi and Mumbai’s Worli. And now the upcoming store in Pune is expected to be in the firm's ‘city store’ format.
The firm confirmed its plans to open a store in the Pune and also noted that part of its customers at the store in Navi Mumbai have also visitors from Pune, due to the relative proximity.
An IKEA spokesperson said, “Pune has been an important market for IKEA India and we’ve witnessed strong demand. IKEA launched e-commerce presence in Pune in January 2020- making it the second market in India to access the full IKEA range online before a physical store opened. With its proximity to Navi Mumbai, many customers from Pune have also embraced the IKEA Navi Mumbai store experience.”
“Pune continues to be a priority market for IKEA, and we are now excited to offer a more dynamic experience through an omnichannel presence in the city- starting with a city store. We will be able to share more details once we are ready to announce,” the spokesperson added.
Moreover, the firm has a distribution centre in Pune’s Chakan that facilitates services to southern and western markets. While through Haryana, the distribution to northern part is being done, with plans for setting up stores in the National Capital Region (NCR).
