The site will be home to India’s first Ingka Centre, a multi-storey retail destination with Ikea as the anchor and other brands as tenants
New Delhi: Ingka Group, the parent company of Ikea, has started the process to construct a retail destination or Ingka Centre in Noida that will be home to a large Ikea store as well as other brands from outside of the group’s stable.
“We are happy to confirm that Ingka Centres has started preparatory works on our site in Noida,” an Ingka Centre spokesperson said in an email response. “We look forward to announcing our detailed plans for the location in the nearest future.”
On a cold January morning workers wearing safety helmets were seen carrying out some activities at the Noida site where some temporary structures have also come up.
In November 2021, Ingka Centres, that builds retail destinations in various countries, acquired the 47,833 square meter plot in Noida in the National Capital Region (or NCR as Delhi and its suburbs are collectively called). Ingka had previously said the group will spend around Rs 5,500 crore towards developing the Noida centre.
The Noida plot is a sandwiched parcel of land between two metro stations of Sector 52 of Delhi Metro’s Blue Line and Noida Metro’s station on the beginning of the Aqua Line going towards Greater Noida. Having a metro station close to the centre is a pre-condition for all Ikea stores, company official said.
Multi-storey Ingka Centres generally house an Ikea store as the anchor with other retailers as tenants like H&M.
“Ingka Centres’ move to India is part of its global vision to expand into new markets with Ikea anchored destinations that deliver a powerful retail attraction and new experiences to reflect the needs of local communities. India will play a central role in Ingka Centres’ vision to shape Meeting Places with offerings that appeal to the ‘many people,” the company had said while announcing the Noida land parcel acquisition in February 2021.
“Noida has been chosen as the perfect location for a new retail-led destination that will match the lifestyles of the fast-growing population across India’s National Capital Region. Located in Uttar Pradesh, 25 km from New Delhi, Noida is renowned for the quality of its infrastructure, open spaces and for being India’s greenest city. The site is close to the city centre of Noida, with excellent transport links.”
The Netherland-based group has developed dozens of Ingka Centres in Europe, the US, UK, and China. As per its website, the group operates nine Ingka Centres in China and seven such shopping centres in Sweden, the home market for parent company Ingka Group.
Ingka Group’s flagship Ikea operates three large format warehouse-size outlets in the range of 400,000 sq ft in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Ikea has also rolled out its second city centre and relatively smaller format in Mumbai.
The 72,000 sq ft store located in R City Mall is Ikea’s first store in a mall in India. Prior to that Ikea had opened its first smaller store in the range of 80,000 sq. ft. in Worli, Mumbai.
Ingka Group had previously announced that it would invest Rs 7,500 crores to develop in the NCR two Ingka Centres.
