The closure of Habitat: I am sure that the only contributing factor in Habitat's demise was the opening of Ikea in Belfast.

Habitat is owned by Ikea. They sell a lot of the same stuff - except in Habitat, it is sold at a premium. Long gone are the days since Habitat sold anything vaguely Sir Terence Conran-ish. - Laura

Some of their stuff was kinda nice but on the whole it's a joke of a place - total rip-off and, as you say, similar stuff is available elsewhere at a fraction of the cost. A lot of their furniture is Argos quality, is flatpack like Argos, but costs five times as much. Many display items were damaged, etc, which doesn't say much for the effort they go to when selling. However, the building is really nice and they did a good job on it so I hope a decent new tenant is found. - Bolg

I'm so glad Habitat is gone. There is only so long that a shop can make money from selling gift vouchers to people who can't think of what to buy for their friends, only for their friends to go to Habitat with their voucher to discover there is nothing they want there. - Daithi