Don’t want to go into the office, but can’t work at home? “What better place than the local supermarket?” says IWG boss Mark Dixon.
No, Dixon isn’t recommending that we all retrain as shelf-stackers. IWG is opening a flexible office at a Tesco Extra in New Malden, south London.
The store’s upper mezzanine level — totalling 3,800 sq ft — has been fitted out with desks, co-working spaces and a meeting room. The office, which will be run under IWG’s Spaces brand, will open to workers towards the end of this month, although they won’t benefit from in-store perks or discounts.
“Convenience is, for some, not leaving their house or going to Starbucks,” Mark Dixon, the founder and chief executive of IWG, said. “For others, who don’t want the distractions that you get at Starbucks but still want to work locally, what better place than the local supermarket?”
Dixon plans to open more than 1,000 new offices this year and said he has been inundated with requests from retailers looking to repurpose their surplus space.
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