BOSSES at an Irvine-based furniture company have been successful in their bid to bring a slice of IKEA to the town.

But conditions attached to the approval of Denny Shop's plans may mean its showroom won't be exactly the same as what their Swedish counterparts can offer.

The Irvine-based company lodged plans with North Ayrshire Council to expand back in July - having operated in the town for around a decade from its warehouse in Drybridge Park on Shewalton Road.

This facility is used to assist with online operations, particularly for product storage, meaning the company has no 'physical' store which customers could visit.

Selling home, garden and DIY products, the business feels that it would benefit from a physical space for customers to browse products - which led to the submission of its application.

The organisation was looking to change the use of a vacant unit owned by the company, the former North Ayrshire Council legal services office, into a new showroom for Denny Shop.

The former office is located adjacent to its existing premises on Shewalton Road.

The plans for the proposed showroom were ambitious, as was discussed in the applications supporting statment.

The local business hopes to emulate the success of Swedish funriture manufacturers IKEA, whose shops are famous for providing a great 'day out' for those looking to make home improvements.

An application statement said: "They [Denny Shop] have noticed a growing demand from customers, particularly the local community, for a physical space where they can view their products before making a purchase.

"Therefore, they would like to propose the conversion of the adjacent building, which is currently classified as an office (formerly North Ayrshire Council Legal Services) but has been abandoned for number of years, into a showroom.

"The vision for this showroom is inspired by the successful concept employed by 'IKEA', where customers can browse and interact with the products before making a final selection online.

"They strongly believe that having a showroom would greatly benefit the business, as it would allow customers to see and experience the quality of their products first-hand.

"Additionally, it would establish a stronger presence within the local community, fostering trust and customer loyalty."

It is planned that the showroom will be open from 9am until 7pm every day, with three members of staff running the shop floor.

And it may not be long until customers can see the showroom for themselves.

The application also noted that work had already been completed on the conversion prior to the application being put to the local planning body.

This started in October 2022, before being completed in May of this year.

This mistake was made as the applicants said there was "no known use class order" for the building so informal advice they received led them to believe no planning permission was required.

Though when they were made aware of this requirement, the application was lodged.

That application is one that has now been approved by North Ayrshire Council - subject to one condition.

The planning authority have told the applicant that the display area cannot exceed 466 metres squared - and that the premises must only be used "in conjunction with and ancillary to" their online retail distribution and "no other purpose".

The approval condition adds: "The premises may not be used as a free-standing retail operation independent of the established retail distribution warehouse unless the prior written approval is obtained from North Ayrshire Council as Planning Authority."

Meaning that customers will only be able to view products in the showroom to then order online - no 'over the counter' in-store purchasing will be available.