Perth’s southern suburbs to get a new IKEA,but not as you know it

For Perth residents living south of the river,a trip to IKEA’s flagship Innaloo store is more often than not a protracted,at times torturous,excursion.

After corralling the kids into the car (or depositing them at the rellies’),driving up the freeway or the coast,and contending with Scarborough Beach Road and the other wonders of the northern suburbs,arriving at the monolithic blue-and-yellow warehouse is only the very start of the odyssey.

Once inside,you have to contend with a labyrinthine store layout Victor Gruen could only dream of;an abstruse numerical system connecting the furniture you take a fancy to with the stock in the bowels of the warehouse floor below;and the ever-present temptation to impulse-buy your way to a $1000 bill at the checkout.

With flat-pack furniture on trolley,it’s then time to brave the pandemonium of the carpark and a loading area that makes afternoon congestion on the Mitchell Freeway look like a coastal meander.

At the end of all that,who has the steam to get home and actually assemble the finished product?

The Swedish flat-pack furniture and meatball purveyors have been paying attention to the plight of shoppers Perth’s sprawling southern suburbs,it seems.

A new store is slated to open in the south early next year,but there’s a catch.

It’s IKEA,but not as you know it.

At 544 square metres,the “plan and order point” store in Cannington is dwarfed by its Innaloo mothership,but will serve as a pick-up destination for orders placed online.

Inside,the pitch is aimed at those revamping a whole room,rather than shoppers in the market for a new couch or storage unit (or frying pan).

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IKEA boffins will be on hand to help customers plan “complex” home spaces,including kitchens and wardrobes. Once the furniture is ordered,it can be picked up from the store at a later date,sparing a journey to the wild north.

This masthead understands a premises hasn’t been locked in,but the other two Australian IKEA plan and order point stores in Melbourne and Sydney are located in a shopping centre and a retail park,so expect similar digs in Cannington.

IKEA Australia’s market area manager Johanna Gbenplay said the plan and order point format meant the furniture giant was “more accessible than ever”.

“With IKEA Perth in Innaloo in the north,we’re so pleased to be able to offer a convenient location to our customers south of the river too from early 2024,” she said.

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