SHANGHAI, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Furniture retailer IKEA is closing seven stores in China from February 2, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The stores earmarked for closure include one in suburban Shanghai, another in Guangzhou, and several more in second-tier Chinese cities such as Nantong, Xuzhou and Harbin, IKEA said in the statement posted to its official WeChat account.

Retailers in general have been struggling to grow sales in China, where consumer sentiment remains muted following a prolonged property crisis and concerns about employment security and stagnant wages.

There are currently around 40 IKEA stores in mainland China, and the statement said five new stores of various sizes have recently opened.

China, the world's second-largest economy, accounts for around 3.5% of IKEA's global sales. With a growing percentage of sales in the country coming from online flagships, IKEA opened a new store on JD.com last August to help cultivate that online sales growth.

"We will shift from scale expansion to precise cultivation, exploring Beijing and Shenzhen as key markets, and opening more than ten small stores in the next two years," IKEA said in its statement, adding that new store openings in Dongguan and Beijing were expected in the first half of 2026.

(Reporting by Casey HallEditing by Alexandra Hudson)

((Casey.Hall@thomsonreuters.com;))