IKEA to build two-kilometre-long store that is "impossible to get lost in"

IKEA is working on plans for a linear store that would depart from the Swedish home-furnishings retailer's usual labyrinthine layout, Dezeen can reveal.

Planned for an unconfirmed site, the proposed outlet will stretch to almost two kilometres in length to accommodate all the necessary showrooms and warehouse space.

An architectural rendering obtained by Dezeen shows a long, narrow volume in IKEA's signature blue and yellow colours.

Travelator will transport shoppers

The move is a response to increasing concerns about shoppers getting lost inside IKEA stores, which have long been associated with a meandering one-way floorplan.

"With the rise of digital maps, GPS and the very real fact that people barely look up from their phone screens anymore, we're finding that people don't seem to have navigation skills that they used to," IKEA head of retail Tolga Oncu told Dezeen.

"So, our solution is to build a store that it is impossible to get lost in."

The store will have only one floor, with customers entering at one end and being directed to walk straight ahead, passing first through showrooms, followed by the marketplace section, the self-service furniture area and finally the checkouts.

A hop-on, hop-off travelator will be available to transport shoppers, in response to focus-group feedback about reducing walking time.

The famed IKEA food court will be stationed at the middle, with a "fast lane" travelator conveying customers who want to eat but not shop the full length of the store.

Despite the switch to a linear floorplan, the planned store will copy existing IKEA locations by not having any windows.

"We don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater," said Oncu. "We want it to still be a recognisable IKEA experience."

Meatball store under consideration

IKEA has long been famous for its maze-like store layouts, with its influence over shopper psychology believed to be a major part of the company's global success.

But it is understood that following weeks of discussions, executives were finally moved to experiment with an alternative after security staff at an undisclosed IKEA store found a lost customer long after the store had closed.

The distressed shopper told staff he had climbed into a large basket full of squishy toy snakes in confusion and been unable to get out.

Further innovative layouts are rumoured to be under consideration for other future IKEA outposts, including a spherical store.

Dezeen has seen internal documents showing what appear to be designs for a building styled on a giant meatball, though it is not clear how the interior functions would be organised.

The images are courtesy of IKEA.

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