The opening was celebrated with a performance by the Estudantina Universitária de Coimbra, one of the city’s most acclaimed academic music groups. The store’s more than 30 staff members enthusiastically welcomed the first 650 customers, who arrived within 15 minutes and were already queuing to explore the new IKEA store.

Pioneering format

The new IKEA store represents a pioneering format in the country; despite being in a smaller space, the store still offers advisory services, solutions, circular economy initiatives and a Swedish grocery section, including IKEA’s famous meatballs.

In a press release sent to The Portugal News, CBRE’s Retail Leasing team confirmed its role in bringing IKEA to Coimbra. The move, as the company explains, forms part of the “current strategy to reconfigure and enhance the Mondego Retail Park”, in what it considers to be “one of the most significant changes ever made to this retail space.”

In order to meet IKEA’s demand for a new location in the Coimbra area, the consultancy identified the Mondego Retail Park as the ideal site for this purpose.

As previously reported by The Portugal News, CBRE also highlighted the proximity of the Mondego Retail Park, in Taveiro, to Coimbra. Furthermore, the presence of the IKEA store will attract more people to the Retail Park, which, despite having all its units occupied, has “a waiting list of several retailers interested in joining the project.”

Quoted in the press release, Carlos Récio, Head of Retail at CBRE Portugal, reveals that “the arrival of the new IKEA store is part of an ongoing effort to reconfigure Mondego Retail Park, which forms part of the strategy to enhance its appeal that we have been implementing.” He also states that the reconfiguration process had already been achieved with the opening of Sports Direct, but that the expansion will continue with the introduction of new shops such as “Normal, Vilanova and Delta Espresso, which are to be located in the area previously occupied by the Food Court, following the refurbishment of this zone. “We believe that IKEA will reinforce the asset’s positive momentum and further enhance its appeal.”

For her part, Filipa Pereira, Retail Property Management Director at CBRE Portugal, adds that the new IKEA store is “yet another important milestone in the evolution of this asset, which, in recent years, has established itself as one of the most significant in the country, the result of a coordinated and successful strategy by the CBRE team and an owner with the right vision for the market.”

Guilherme Ribeiro, Manager of the IKEA store in Coimbra, commenting on the choice of location for the store, says that the ‘City of Students’ “is a natural choice for IKEA.” The city serves the wider Centro region, where “Mondego Retail Park proved to be the ideal partner for this new phase, thanks to its location, accessibility and the complementary nature of the offering, with various players from the sector already present.”

The Coimbra store is IKEA’s sixth in Portugal, and will be the largest store in the Retail Park where it is located, covering “approximately 4,000 square metres”, in a space that was previously also used by a furniture and homeware store.

Under the ‘Small but powerful’ concept, the IKEA store in Coimbra combines “product displays, inspiration areas, items available for immediate purchase and a food court, providing a complete experience for visitors.”