'The flow of an Ikea store, which we call a long and natural way, starting from the furniture showroom and then going into the home accessories and the like, works best on one floor; maximum on two floors. If you have three floors, it's very difficult to handle the logistics,' Ms Mak said.
'Also, if you have too many floors, it gives the impression of a department store where each floor is something different, whereas Ikea's furniture and home accessories are complementary so we must have them on close floor levels for people to make the association.' None of Ikea's stores world-wide has more than two floors, with the exception of its 450,000-sq-ft Stockholm store which does operate like a department store. In the Pioneer Centre, Ikea occupies the second and third floors, connected by escalators.
Accessibility to public transport was also a requisite in the choice of location.
'Public transport is a much bigger criterion for choosing a location than in Europe where destination shopping is more likely,' Ms Mak said.
'In Europe or America, a lot of people drive for half an hour to a single store to shop but, in Hong Kong, the chance of people driving that far to, say, an independent Ikea store in Tai Po, is slim.' Located on Nathan Road, the Pioneer Centre is situated at the hub of the public transport system, being just a two-minute walk from Prince Edward MTR station and well served by buses.
'Natural traffic is also very important to our location; there must be walk-in traffic into the store or into the shopping arcade,' Ms Mak said.
A number of important fashion retail chains have been operating on the ground floor of the Pioneer Centre since October.
Parking space was also a consideration but is a rare commodity in most Hong Kong shopping malls. However, the Pioneer Centre provides parking on two basement levels.
'Some Ikea customers like to take their car to pick up light furniture,' Ms Mak said.
In February, Ikea identified the Pioneer Centre as meeting all its basic requirements, as well as having other advantages.
'Mongkok provides an opportunity to meet more levels of consumer than Tsim Sha Tsui, which goes back to our vision where we would like to take the key business in Hong Kong into serving the majority of the market,' Ms Mak said.
However, she said this was not the top priority in choosing Mongkok and that if any shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui had been able to meet all the key criteria, Ikea would probably have opened its new store there.
'If we opened a store of that size in either Tsim Sha Tsui or Mongkok, it would cover a large catchment area. We did a survey on catchment areas and southern Kowloon covers quite a large one, especially into Kwun Tong because of the MTR,' she said.
Having selected the Pioneer Centre, Ikea fitted out its store in record time of 110 days.
'The rent-free period in Hong Kong is so short that the earlier you open the store the better,' she said.
To achieve a tight schedule, management took the decision early to air-freight rather than ship in a lot of store equipment.
'It was quite something to air freight around 35 tonnes from Sweden but our financial calculations showed it paid off substantially to save the six weeks in rental and overheads,' she said.
Shop fittings such as racking, cashier tills and other standard equipment came from central purchasing in Sweden, while ceiling grids, flooring, vinyl and partition walls were locally sourced.
'We have so much ceiling grid that, if we put it in a straight line, it would be equal to 10 times the length of the Hong Kong stadium.'
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