[HAMBURG] Ikea became the world's biggest home-furnishings retailer by getting shoppers to drive to sprawling hyper-centres on the outskirts of cities from Stockholm to Shanghai. From today, residents in Hamburg can just walk in off the high street.

The Swedish chain opened its first city-centre store in the district of Altona, the most westerly of Hamburg's seven boroughs, in a pilot project targeting a rising number of urbanites who dread the long haul to its traditional outlets with their distinctive blue and yellow design. The store opening, which is costing the company 80 million euros (S$136.5 million), is an experiment for Ikea, breaking new ground in its largest market, said Johannes Ferber, the managing director who's spearheading Ikea's expansion in Germany.

"It's a very expensive experiment for us, but we want to know if the city-store concept works out," he said. "Altona could serve as a model for other big cities such as Berlin."