IKEA is set to open a new store in Chester this year.

It forms part of the retailer's expansion plans to be closer to where customers live, work, socialise and do their daily or weekly shopping. 

The new IKEA store will open on the former Homebase site in the Greyhound Retail Park in Chester - with a specific opening date yet to be confirmed.

The store will provide the "classic IKEA experience that customers know and love" on a smaller scale. 

IKEA will offer a compact on-the-go food menu for customers to take away – where fans can still expect IKEA's much-loved meatballs. 

Peter Jelkeby, IKEA UK and Ireland CEO, said: "We know many people want to shop with IKEA but in some instances we are just too far away.

"That's why we are strategically expanding our UK footprint, with the aim of showing up in convenient, accessible locations for our customers.

"Centrally located in retail parks, our three new stores mark a major step forward in our expansion plan, making it easier than ever for customers in these areas to shop with us."

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The store is the latest in a series of smaller formats that IKEA is opening in the UK. 

The new location has been announced ahead of the opening of IKEA's highly anticipated store on London's iconic Oxford Street this spring, with the retailer set to open another city centre store in Brighton this year.

Peter Jelkeby added: "Harlow, Chester and Norwich have long been areas of interest to us, and we're looking forward to bringing the very best of the IKEA experience in a refreshingly compact format to these communities later this year."

The opening dates for the new IKEA stores in Harlow, Chester and Norwich will be announced in due course. 

They will join IKEA's existing portfolio of 21 full IKEA stores in the UK.