Is Oxford Street finally back in business?

Ikea's opening, the candy stores are going and London's most important shopping district is buzzing again. By Jonathan Prynn

- Jonathan Prynn

It is late morning on Maundy Thursday, just before the Easter holidays. A queue of about 100 excited shoppers are waiting to be let into the Chinese-owned designer toy store Pop Mart at 262 Oxford Street. Roll forward a fortnight to May 1, and yet another new retailer on “London's high street” is also expected to draw in the crowds for its long awaited — and often delayed — West End launch. Ikea is finally opening its first genuine UK city centre store that day at 214 Oxford Street, in the building once occupied by Sir Philip Green's Topshop flagship.

It has been a long haul. The Swedish furniture giant bought the site for £378 million in October 2021 and there have been a string of planning and construction snags, leading to multiple postponements of the opening date. But now the day is almost here.

The two retailers — one selling niche on-trend Chinese character collectibles, the other Scandinavian mass market homeware and furnishings — could scarcely be more contrasting. But they both tell a story about how Oxford Street is evolving and reviving from its near-death experience during the pandemic.

Walk along it and you will still pass many of the tacky candy stores, souvenir shops and faux Harry Potter “wizarding” emporia that pockmark Europe’s best-known shopping destination. Many popped up during the pandemic, when they took bargain basement deals from landlords desperate to fill the growing number of empty units.