wellygary:

 

Ikea are moving to a larger number of "order and collection points" which are smaller stores with subsets of their range on display,

 

I suspect that most of what we will see in NZ will be this smaller format, with maybe one or two full format distribution centres which are used to provide stock to these smaller stores and online delivery...

About three weeks ago, I heard in private from a Whakatane council staff member that a "major retailer" would be making an announcement on the 20th of December. Ikea would certainly qualify as a major retailer and I haven't seen any other major announcements today, but why would a random council know about it unless it affected the town? So you could be right; there may be many collection points scattered around the country.

Or maybe it's all just a big coincidence!