The furniture giant IKEA said today it won't build a new store on a site it was earlier intending to use, at the New Monks Farm development at Lancing, West Sussex.
The company reported this morning that shopping habits were changing and so, consequently, the land intended for the store would be sold to a new buyer, yet to be found.
In a statement, Richard Rands, market expansion manager at IKEA UK and Ireland, said:
“This has not been an easy decision to make.
"Today, we are operating in an incredibly fast-changing retail environment and customer shopping habits aren’t as they once were.
"Although we know that there is great potential in Sussex, we no longer believe that an IKEA store on the outskirts of Lancing is the optimum way to reach customers in the region.
"We understand this news may disappoint some but we will continue to serve customers in Lancing and the wider area in the best possible way, through both our online offer and home delivery service, as well as our remote selling and planning facilities.”
Planning permission for 600 homes, a country park, and other facilities was finally granted for New Monks Farm at Lancing early in 2020.
A new IKEA store had been long planned, with bosses as recently as February this year promising an update on progress towards its construction.
That update came in an unexpected form, today.
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