IKEA is set to open a small store in Harlow this year as part of the retailer’s expansion plan to be closer to where customers live, work, socialise and shop.

The new IKEA Harlow store will open on the former Homebase site in the Harlow Retail Park later this year.

Featuring IKEA’s famous home furnishing inspiration, market hall and bespoke planning services, the Harlow store will provide the IKEA experience that customers know and love, on a smaller scale. IKEA will offer a compact on-the-go food menu for customers to take away – where fans can still expect IKEA’s much-loved meatballs.

Peter Jelkeby, IKEA UK and Ireland CEO, said: “We know many people want to shop with IKEA but in some instances are just too far away. That’s why we are strategically expanding our UK footprint, with the aim of showing up in convenient, accessible locations for our customers. Our new site in Harlow Retail Park allows us to do exactly that – reaching communities who previously had to travel some distance to visit us.”

Customers in Harlow will be able to follow familiar signage around the store. A curated range of up to 5,000 product lines will be on display, with up to 3,000 available for immediate purchase and the full range discoverable through digital tools. The store will offer customers complimentary, personalised design support, empowering them to create the spaces of their dreams, as well as click and collect services, allowing customers to pick up online orders at a convenient time for them.

Chris Vince, MP for Harlow and the Villages, said: “It’s brilliant to see this investment in Harlow. I know many residents will be looking forward to it opening. I also welcome the new jobs IKEA will bring to the town.”

In 2025 IKEA will open an additional two stores at former Homebase sites in Chester and Norwich, in the same format as Harlow. Located in busy retail parks, the stores are the latest in a series of smaller formats that IKEA is opening in the UK. The three new locations are announced ahead of the opening of IKEA’s highly anticipated store on London’s iconic Oxford Street on the 1^st May, with the retailer set to open another city centre store in Brighton this year.

The opening date for IKEA Harlow will be announced in due course.