May 25, 2023
Cherry Hill Mall/Facebook
The new Ikea pop-up kiosk at the Cherry Hill Mall caters to kitchen design.
Ikea stores are known for their sprawling floor plans that take customers through seemingly endless possibilities to furnish and spruce up the decor of their homes.
Now the Swedish company is experimenting with a much smaller pop-up kiosk at the Cherry Hill Mall, where customers can plan their kitchens.
The store debuts Friday at the Grand Court on the South Jersey mall's first floor, near Nordstrom. The pop-up was developed through a partnership with the Ikea franchise in South Philly, and it will remain at the Cherry Hill Mall through September. The company has its U.S. headquarters in Conshohocken.
The kitchen planning service is part of a larger push Ikea is making to personalize interior design. In April, the company debuted a one-on-one interior design service that enables people to plan homes, restaurants, offices using a virtual platform. The process covers everything from floor plans to detailed 3D renderings that can be finalized and coordinated with delivery and installation.
Ikea touts its new design services as more affordable than hiring other types of consultants for home decoration. Home renovations have slowed this year due to factors like inflation and the cooling housing market. In February, Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies projected a nearly 14% decline in spending on home remodeling from 2022 to 2023, following a boom in home improvement spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The average cost of remodeling a kitchen is about $25,000, which equates to about $150 per square foot. For kitchens of less than 70 square feet, the range falls between $5,000 and $20,000, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. The most expensive pieces of a remodeled kitchen are cabinetry and the cost of installation and labor, which is among the reasons more home owners have turned to do-it-yourself projects.
The Ikea pop-up in Cherry Hill is part of a company trend toward smaller stores that focus on specific areas of homes. It opened a bedroom store in Madrid, Spain in 2017 and another shop tailored to small spaces in Tokyo, Japan in 2020. Ikea has been experimenting with time-limited pop-up stores for several years. The company said they have been popular among customers, although its traditional stores remain the primary drivers of business.
"We always want to be better, and we test new solutions and formats all the time," said Jon Abrahamsson, CEO of Ikea's parent company.
The Cherry Hill pop-up will operate Mondays through Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. A grand opening on Friday will include food and chances to win prizes.
