New IKEA store set for Kingston Retail Park

VACANT: The premises earmarked for a new IKEA store

EXCLUSIVE

By Angus Young

A new IKEA concept store is set open in Hull.

As revealed in The Hull Story newspaper today, the homeware giant plans to convert a currently empty unit on Kingston Retail Park into a Plan & Order Point (POP) outlet.

POP is a new trading concept for IKEA in the UK having recently opened stores in Liverpool, Preston and Stockport.

The roll out to Hull would see a dramatic facelift for the unit previously occupied as a supermarket by Tesco-owned brand Jack’s. It closed nearly three years ago.

A planning document submitted to Hull City Council on behalf of IKEA in connection with the new Hull store explains the POP concept.

It says: “The new format caters to customers looking for a specific service for planning and buying fitted kitchen and bedroom furniture.

“The POP will provide areas to sit down with a sales representative, along with areas to display samples of materials, colours, finishes etc.

“When a customer has designed their kitchen and/or bedroom, the customer would pay for the fitted kitchen/bedroom chosen, which would then be delivered to their home address.”

The planning application for the conversion only seeks approval to display three new internally illuminated advertising signs featuring the famous IKEA logo on the building.

No separate planning permission is required for the change in trading use.

IKEA’s POP stores in Lancashire currently open Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm; Saturday, 9am to 6pm, and Sunday, 10.30am to 4.30pm.