Mumbai, August 26: Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA, for the first time ever, will lease space in a retail mall to open its store in Mumbai. According to an Economic Times report, the company is in advanced talks with realty developer Runwal Group to lease nearly one lakh sq ft spread over two floors at R City Mall in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar suburb. Ikea India Opens Online Store in Mumbai.

IKEA, which is otherwise known for their massive stand-alone stores, will for the first time take this approach to launch their first store in a mall in Mumbai, the country's most expensive real estate  The company recently launched its first online platform to serve people in the financial capital, offering more than  7,500 products ranging from home furnishing solutions to electronics. IKEA will continue to operate its online store even as it runs its offline operations.

The brand is reportedly in talks with the popular suburban mall for a lease of five years. The lease is being open for extension by another five years, taking it to a total of 10 years.

In India, IKEA currently has more than 55 suppliers with 45,000 direct employees and 400,000 people in the extended supply chain. The Swedish furniture giant IKEA has entered India in 2018, by opening its first store in Hyderabad. It added that so far, more than 3 million customers have visited its first store in Hyderabad.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 26, 2019 02:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).