Ikea expands into West Flanders without a store

Ikea is setting foot in West Flanders for the first time, but not with a furniture store. On November 16, the Swedish home furnishings chain will open pickup lockers at the Ring Kortrijk shopping center. This is the next step in expanding a network through which Ikea aims to get closer to its customers without opening new stores.

Pick up whenever it’s convenient

West Flanders is the only Flemish province without an IKEA store. That won’t change for the time being, but thanks to a partnership with real estate group Wereldhave Belgium, customers will be able to pick up their online orders at Ring Kortrijk starting Monday, November 16. The lockers are accessible day and night and can accommodate large orders; IKEA is providing shopping carts and a loading and unloading zone.

Kortrijk isn’t the only new location. Following a pilot project in Nivelles, IKEA and Wereldhave are expanding their partnership to four additional shopping centers. The lockers in Tournai and Liège are already operational, with Charleroi set to follow in December. Existing IKEA stores will handle the restocking: for Kortrijk, the Ghent location will take on that task.

Lockers are gaining ground

In fiscal year 2026, approximately 300,000 Belgian customers used Click & Collect, a 35% increase. The number of customers picking up orders via lockers nearly doubled to 94,000. Online sales and other remote purchases together already accounted for nearly a quarter of Belgian revenue.

Lockers are also of interest to Wereldhave. The real estate group aims to transform its shopping centers into multifunctional destinations where consumers do more than just shop. “In 2025, nearly 600,000 packages were processed in our shopping centers. This confirms the growing need for services that make consumers’ daily lives easier,” says Chief Operating Officer Harold d’Anstaing.