To the excitement of many, IKEA is coming to New Zealand - but it could have competition.
Earlier in January it was announced the Swedish furniture retailer will open a megastore in Auckland in the next few years, with a possible South Island location to follow.
- Ikea store to be located in Auckland
- Ikea's NZ expansion might not be everything we hope for
- Opinion: Ikea is coming to NZ? Say it isn't so
However they'll be beaten to the punch by Nido Living, a new franchise that will rival IKEA in sheer size alone. A $60m store will open in Henderson in spring, with a floor space of 27,000sqm - bigger than three rugby fields.
Nido, which will sell furniture, homeware and lifestyle goods, will be the country's largest ever retailer and carry more than 10,000 product lines.
Founder and managing director Vinod Kumar says the store will be 100 percent New Zealand owned and operated, and will employ 200 locals onsite.
"This will be largest retail operation in the country and for those outside of Auckland, we will offer online shopping functionality through our website."
The two-time NZ Retailer of the Year winner previously owned three Mitre 10 stores, and was one of the creators of the Mitre 10 Mega concept store.
Nido has been nine years in the making, and Mr Kumar says he began his research into innovative retail models long before IKEA set its sights on New Zealand.
He told NZME he didn't consciously choose to launch Nido to rival IKEA, but there's little doubt the two retailers will be fierce competitors once both are up and running.
Mr Kumar says Nido is a "new retail concept" that will be utterly unlike anything Kiwi shoppers have seen before.
While the brick and mortar store won't be open until the second half of 2019, people will be able to browse its products (primarily from Europe and the US) through online shopping before then.
Construction of the flagship Nido store, which is being funded by commercial property investment company Maat Group, began in October 2018 and is about 10 percent complete.
Newshub.
