ABSTRACT
DIY stores, furniture showrooms and garden centres therefore arrived like the horsemen of the apocalypse, opening the door for a massive expansion in out-of-town retailing that would soon be exploited by other retail sectors. The ‘home-owning democracy’ promoted by the Conservative government of the 1980s created a huge market for DIY retailers. DIY and furniture stores illustrate the ways in which the home and garden sector is particularly susceptible to changing consumer trends, making it difficult to predict the future. The company therefore started to experiment with ‘order and collection’, opening stores in Aberdeen, Norwich and within the Westfield Shopping Centre in London. But the watershed moment came when IKEA took over the former Topshop flagship store on Oxford Street by Piccadilly Circus in 2021. However, it does seem that both current and longer-term trends mean that the people shouldn’t write off the high street once more playing an important role in the sector.
