Home improvements The capital’s second Ikea store is set to open in July 2020…

Anew branch of the popular Swedish furniture store Ikea is currently being constructed at Abu Dhabi’s Al Wahda Mall. Abu Dhabi already has one Ikea on Yas Island, but this second store is positioned in a more central location, making it accessible for many of the capital’s residents.

It will also take the total number of the famously labyrinthian stores in the UAE to five, following the launch of Jebel Ali’s Festival Plaza outlet at the end of 2019.

In the past, Ikea stores have usually set up home in the suburbs. It made practical sense, given their vast size and the fact that there was usually expansive warehouse space on site. Inner-city real estate just wasn’t viable.

Fast-forward to 2020 and the new 23,000-square-foot Al Wahda Mall location is just the latest in the brand’s growing ‘city store concept’ portfolio.

Vinod Jayan, managing director of AlFuttaim IKEA said of the upcoming launch, “We are delighted to open a new Ikea store at Al Wahda Mall, given the mall’s strategic and central location, we will be in the city centre closer to where the many people live.”