Ikea's malls arm buys retail property in the centre of Toronto

Stockholm

IKEA's shopping malls business said on Thursday it had bought the Shops at Aura mall in the centre of Toronto in Canada as part of the furniture group's strategy shift towards inner cities.

It bought the mall, which has been struggling to attract tenants and visitors, from private equity firm KingSett Capital. Ingka Centres, which has 46 malls anchored by Ikea stores across Europe, Russia and China, said in a statement it would redevelop the ground and first floors of the building into an Ikea store that would open around the turn of the year. It did not disclose the purchase price for the Toronto property.

It will be the first inner-city Ikea store in Canada. The building's remaining mall space will mark Ingka Centres' entry into Canada.

Located at the base of the Aura skyscraper, the property currently has around 12,000 square metres of leasable area across three floors.

Ingka Centres is scouting for inner-city property as part of Ikea's shift in recent years towards the centres of large cities, in response to the shift to online shopping and other changing shopping behaviours. So far, such locations are leased. REUTERS