The Tiny Ikea of the Future, Without Meatballs or Showroom Mazes

Whether in San Diego, Novosibirsk, or Tokyo, the Ikea experience is almost as standardized as its flat packs. The blue-and-yellow big box, the vast showroom maze, the Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria—this formula propelled Ikea of Sweden AB to global No. 1 in furniture retailing, with €38.3 billion ($45.7 billion) in sales and more than 400 stores in 49 countries.

There are no meatballs in Ikea’s newest London outlet, part of a shopping mall in a redeveloped urban neighborhood near the 2012 Summer Olympics complex. One of two dozen small-scale stores that Ikea has opened since 2015, it measures only 900 square meters (about 9,700 square feet), while the typical suburban Ikea sprawls across more than 25,000 square meters. It has a few model rooms fitted out with furniture and accessories, but hardly anything can be purchased and taken home immediately. Instead, shoppers use touchscreen computers to place orders and arrange for delivery or pickup later.