IKEA to open IKEA Maebashi, its most sustainable store, on Thursday, January 18, 2024

IKEA Japan will open IKEA Maebashi on Thursday, January 18, 2024, and will aim to have the most sustainable operations in IKEA Japan. 

CEO & Chief Sustainability Officer, Petra Färe, commented: "We are delighted to be opening our first IKEA store in the north Kanto region. As a partner of life at home, IKEA Maebashi will respond to the needs of everyone in the north Kanto region and surrounding areas such as Nagano and Niigata prefectures, and we will support the many people create a better and more sustainable everyday life at home with our products and solutions at affordable prices. We look forward to becoming a familiar presence that is rooted in and loved by the community. We look forward to seeing you at IKEA Maebashi." 

IKEA Maebashi has a selection of approximately 9,500 home furnishing products  developed with the five elements of "Democratic Design" (Function, Form, Quality, Sustainability, and Low price) in mind. At the time of the opening, IKEA Maebashi will also offer approximately 150 food products.

Overview of IKEA Maebashi

■Name: IKEA Maebashi
■Location: 2008 Kameri-cho, Maebashi-shi, Gunma
■Access:
Bus: Maebashi Tamamura Line 30 bus from Maebashi Station to Shimokawabuchi Kominkan-mae bus stop.
Car: 5 minutes by car from the Kita-Kanto Expressway, Maebashi Minami Interchange
■Store area: Approximately 10,000㎡, 2 floors
■Site Area: Approximately 58,000㎡
■Number of free parking spaces: Approximately 900 outdoor parking spaces
■Opening date: Thursday, January 18, 2024■
■Business hours: 10:00-20:00
■Closed on January 1
■Market Manager: Kazumi Noyamal  
■URL：https://www.ikea.com/jp/en/stores/maebashi/ 

* With the opening of IKEA Maebashi, the pick-up service at the IKEA pick-up point in Maebashi will be closed. Moving forward, please use the “Click and Collect” service to collect your order at IKEA Maebashi.

Features of IKEA Maebashi

1. IKEA Maebashi aims to operate with the lowest environmental impact

IKEA is committed to the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5% above pre-industrial levels. We aim to reduce more greenhouse gas emissions than the full IKEA value chain emits, while growing the IKEA business.

IKEA’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the value chain by 50% by FY30 compared to baseline in FY16 and achieve net zero by FY50 at the latest.

As part of this effort, IKEA Maebashi will aim to operate as the IKEA store with the lowest environmental impact in Japan by combining the various sustainable initiatives that IKEA Japan has been implementing since its opening at IKEA Maebashi and make a positive impact on the environment and society through the operation of the store. In addition, IKEA Maebashi aims to become the first store in Japan to receive LEED certification (BD+C). Through this certification system, IKEA Maebashi has developed transparent and sustainable store development in store design, construction, and operational planning.

Decarbonization and further reduction of footprint
IKEA Japan has reduced its footprint from store operations by 95% in 2023 (compared to 2016) through management of energy, water and waste used in store operations. IKEA Maebashi aims to operate with the lowest footprint in Japan by further promoting these efforts. For more information on each of the following items, see References.

・Access to renewable energy and reduction of energy use
・Water Conservation - Reduction of total water consumption and use of recycled water (rainwater)
・Waste Reduction and Recycling Initiatives
・Promoting environmentally friendly store visits

Recycling-oriented business working together with customers

IKEA Maebashi, like existing stores, will promote actions to promote circular business. For more information on each of the following items, see References.

・Buy back & Spare Parts
・Circular Market

2. Community-based store

IKEA Maebashi will become more accessible to people in the north Kanto region and surrounding areas such as Nagano and Niigata prefectures and will offer a shopping experience that meets customers’ needs. In addition to shopping at the store, as a logistics base in the north Kanto region, IKEA Maebashi will also play an important role in fulfilment while staying close to the needs of customers shopping online, accelerating the IKEA omnichannel strategy.

41 room sets that reflect life at home of the region

In IKEA stores, there are room sets that allow customers to experience living at home in a variety of styles. Customers will not only be able to try out the products, but IKEA Maebashi will also introduce customers to solutions and ideas that will make life at home comfortable and sustainable. In addition, all room sets have personas such as age, gender, family structure, place of residence, occupation, annual income, lifestyle, hobbies, etc. IKEA is working to diversify its personas to offer more people a better life at home.

IKEA Maebashi conducted online home visits and questionnaire surveys to understand the lives of local residents. From the survey, we were able to identify solutions and ideas that reflect the lives of the community and are presented in 41 room sets. Some highlights of the survey include the high rate of home ownership in the Gunma prefecture, many houses are large in space, people customize their life at home and many people use walls flexibly and enjoy gardening and outdoor activities at home. Therefore, IKEA Maebashi will offer several wall solutions and solutions for the garden and the balcony. In addition, the survey also found that there are many people who are worried about storage. Therefore, storage solutions will also be displayed throughout the store.

The first Bistro window in IKEA Japan

For the first time in IKEA Japan, IKEA Maebashi will launch a Bistro window where customers can purchase IKEA food products from outside the store. At the Bistro window, customers can easily stop by and take home some of IKEA's most popular plant-based soft-serve ice cream, hot dogs, cinnamon rolls, plant-based baby castella and more. Business hours are 10:00-17:00.

IKEA Family donation

Since 2015, IKEA Japan has been working on activities that enrich the lives of local people by utilizing its knowledge as a life at home partner. The funds accumulated at IKEA Maebashi will be used to fund community activities in the following year and will help people in the area surrounding the store to build a safe and comfortable home. IKEA Maebashi co-workers plan to support the building of homes where people can live with peace of mind, while meeting the needs of the community.

Appendix: IKEA stores aiming to operate stores with the lowest environmental impact

Decarbonization and further reduction of footprint

IKEA Japan has reduced its footprint from store operations by 95% by 2023 (compared to 2016) through thorough management of the energy, water and waste used in store operations. IKEA Maebashi aims to operate the IKEA store with the lowest footprint in Japan by further promoting these activities.

Access to renewable energy and reduction of energy use

IKEA Japan has been operating its stores on 100% renewable electricity since 2018. IKEA Maebashi, like all IKEA stores, will run on 100% renewable electricity. At the time of opening, 1387 1000KW solar panels will be installed to generate and consume its own electricity. An additional 864 solar panels will be installed in the future, and 600KW of storage batteries will be installed by the end of 2024, making it the highest energy self-sufficiency rate of 36% among IKEA stores in Japan. For any shortfall, IKEA Maebashi will purchase renewable electricity from the retail electricity market and provide our customers with 100% renewable electricity. In addition, IKEA Maebashi will introduce electrification equipment from the time of opening, and will operate with 100% renewable energy, except for emergency generators.

Additionally, IKEA Japan has switched to LED light bulbs, introduced an energy management system, and implemented thorough energy-saving initiatives to reduce the amount of energy used in store operations (per m2) by 40% by FY2022 (compared to FY2010). IKEA Maebashi will also work on thorough energy conservation by introducing equipment that has been used in existing stores from the time of opening.

Waste Reduction and Recycling Initiatives

IKEA has set an ambitious goal to recycle 100% of the waste generated by its operations by 2030. This does not include heat recovery (thermal recycling).In Japan, we are conscious of the shift to a circular business by thoroughly extending the life of products, reducing waste, and separating waste. For food waste, we have implemented AI tools in all of our stores that enable  us to visualize waste. In 2023, IKEA Japan achieved a 59.48% reduction (compared to fiscal 2017).

IKEA Maebashi has also introduced AI tools that have already been introduced in existing stores, and to thoroughly minimize food waste discharged in the Swedish restaurant and Bistro, 19 items of garbage discharged from stores will be sorted as recyclable waste and recycled as new resources. In addition, we will reduce the environmental impact of corrugated cardboard waste, which accounts for the largest amount of garbage generated from stores, by introducing a special compressor this upcoming summer to minimize the number of times it is transported when it is collected as recyclable waste.

Promoting environmentally friendly store visits

Encouraging customers to visit the store in a way that has a low environmental impact is also a challenge for IKEA stores. For the first time in Japan, IKEA Maebashi will set up a priority parking lot for 20 cars near the entrance of the store that can be used by customers who drive an eco-friendly car. Next to it, there will be eight EV chargers that can be charged with renewable electricity, and EV charging services will be installed by business partners who offer EV charging services nationwide. 

We will also promote the use of public transport. Since December last year, vehicles wrapped with the IKEA logo have also been running on the municipal bus route that passes through the nearest bus stop to IKEA Maebashi.

Recycling-oriented business working together with customers

IKEA Maebashi, like existing stores, will promote initiatives to promote circular business.

Buy back & Spare Parts

Since 2017, IKEA Japan has been buying unwanted IKEA furniture from customers, maintaining it, and selling it at the Circular Market. To this date, we have purchased more than 45,000 pieces of furniture, of which 97% have been resold to extend the life of the furniture. In addition, we provide spare parts free of charge so that customers can use our products for a long time. The purpose of these products is to care for them in a circular manner and pass them on to the next generation. IKEA Maebashi also offers buy back and spare parts services.

Circular Market

At the Circular Market, customers can buy displayed furniture and furniture purchased from customers at an affordable price. In addition, there will be a corner where customers can observe the assembly of furniture by co-workers, and workshops on how to maintain products.