Long search for Kowloon's best location

IT took nine months of searching before Mongkok's Pioneer Centre emerged as the best location for Ikea's new flagship store to replace its Tsim Sha Tsui branch.

'There were a few criteria in choosing the location and the first was the size,' said managing director Caroline Mak.

'Because space is the biggest concern in Hong Kong, we decided to open a bigger store than the existing one in Causeway Bay or the old one in Kowloon.' As the Causeway Bay store already occupies 40,000 square feet, Ikea was looking for something in the region of 60,000 to 70,000 sq ft. The distribution of the space was also critical because it had to be over not more than two floors.

'The flow of an Ikea store, which we call a long and natural way, starting from the furniture showroom and then going into the home accessories and the like, works best on one floor; maximum on two floors. If you have three floors, it's very difficult to handle the logistics,' Ms Mak said.

'Also, if you have too many floors, it gives the impression of a department store where each floor is something different, whereas Ikea's furniture and home accessories are complementary so we must have them on close floor levels for people to make the association.' None of Ikea's stores world-wide has more than two floors, with the exception of its 450,000-sq-ft Stockholm store which does operate like a department store. In the Pioneer Centre, Ikea occupies the second and third floors, connected by escalators.

Accessibility to public transport was also a requisite in the choice of location.