'Small Ikea' Søstrene Grene eyes 150 UK stores ahead of Nottingham debut

The lifestyle and homewares retailer, known affectionately by customers as “the small Ikea”, will open its first shop in Britain at Intu Victoria Centre next month, having already expanded into Spain, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Ireland and Japan using a franchise model.

The 4,275 sq ft unit in Nottingham will be Søstrene Grene’s 106th shop, but it is targeting 100 new stores across the next two years as it kicks its expansion plans into another gear.

The retailer’s chief operating officer and head of retail expansion Bjørn Bach Eriksen told Retail Week that the UK could become a hotbed for future growth.

“We expect that we could have at least 150 stores in England, easily.”

Bjørn Bach Eriksen, Søstrene Grene

Eriksen, who admitted it was “a relief” to secure its first UK store following one-and-a-half years of researching the market, said: “We will open the first store, then study the concept in England and speak to customers who have visited the store.

“From that we can quite quickly decide the strategy for this year and the following years, but we expect that we could have at least 150 stores in England, easily. It depends on a lot of criteria, so maybe it will be a bit less, maybe a bit more.

“I think we can accelerate quite fast after opening the first store, maybe opening 3-5 stores this year and then build the numbers over the next five to seven years.

“But first it’s important to find a good balance and understand the market. You can do a lot of surveys before going into a market, but you get the best research after you open.”

Competitors

Søstrene Grene sells a product mix including kitchenware, interior furnishings, home accessories, stationery, children’s toys, gifts, crafts and gift wrapping, appealing mainly to women aged 25-40.

Eriksen admitted the retailer is known by many customers in other markets as “the small Ikea”, operating from stores of between 2,500 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft in size.

But despite the comparisons with the Swedish furniture giant, he insisted there was “a big ask among English women” for a business like Søstrene Grene to enter the market.

Asked who he had pinpointed as Søstrene Grene’s closest competitors in the UK, Eriksen said: “Without sounding arrogant, we never speak directly about other concepts as competitors. We think we offer a unique shopping experience.

“When we ask customers why they come to Søstrene Grene, nine out of 10 say they come to have a nice shopping experience.

“Our store is designed like a labyrinth – a darker room with spotlights on the goods and we play classical music. We don’t see other concepts with this special shopping experience.

“But if you just look at the products, then other concepts have a similar offer. We have a lot of gift wrapping so you could point to Paperchase, for example, and also Ikea for furniture.”

No ecommerce plans

Søstrene Grene, which is actively looking for franchisees across the UK and particularly in London, will focus heavily on enticing British consumers into its stores through that “unique” shopping experience.

“Our store is designed like a labyrinth – a darker room with spotlights on the goods and we play classical music. We don’t see other concepts with this shopping experience”

Bjørn Bach Eriksen, Søstrene Grene

It does not currently have an ecommerce proposition, and Eriksen ruled out launching a transactional website in the UK, despite the popularity of online shopping in this country.

“The shopping experience is very important in all countries,” he added. “We don’t have an online shop because it’s difficult to repeat that shopping experience online.

“For now, we don’t have any intention of launching online because we want to bring people to our stores.

“Our focus is to build that special shopping experience in store rather than focus on other things.”