Ikea store construction to start in 2018

The construction of Swedish home solutions giant Ikea’s second India store at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra will commence only early next year.

Even though the ground breaking-ceremony for the Navi Mumbai store took place in May this year, the construction work has not begun so far.

“The construction for the proposed development will start in early 2018 and will offer two levels of parking, two levels of retail, one level of double height warehouse and a section for food and beverage,” read Larsen & Toubro’s announcement on Tuesday.

L&T has bagged the construction contract for the Navi Mumbai store. Their scope of work includes construction of the entire civil structure, architecture works, metal façade, metal roofing, mechanical-electrical-plumbing and external development works.

The company’s first store, which is coming up in Hyderabad, is slated for opening by April 2018 and the store in Navi Mumbai is likely to open in 2019. Ikea will also have a presence in Bengaluru.

As per the plans, Ikea will have over 7,000 products for sale at its stores in India.

As per an earlier announcement by Ikea, Navi Mumbai store’s floor was to be opened only in January 2019 at an investment of around Rs 1,000 crore.

Ikea had earlier said that Maharashtra will be a key market and it plans to open 5-6 stores in the state going forward and also a distribution centre in Pune.

The Navi Mumbai store will be spread across 430,000 square feet and is expected to employ 700 direct co-workers and another 1,500 for providing services including assembly, and delivery.