THE One

THE One, formally described as The One Total Home Experience, is a furniture and home-lifestyle retail company founded by Swedish entrepreneur and philanthropist Thomas Lundgren. Although the supplied input identifies the subject as Canadian and places it in food, the authoritative Wikipedia title identifies a different entity: a United Arab Emirates-founded home-furnishings retailer. The company opened its first store in Abu Dhabi in 1996 and subsequently developed a presence in Gulf markets. The brand is organized around a highly visual retail concept rather than a conventional furniture showroom. Its stores are designed as changing interior “theatres,” with rooms and displays assembled by decorators to present furniture, accessories, textiles, and other home products in coordinated lifestyle settings. The concept is intended to make shopping feel immersive and emotionally engaging. Seasonal home-fashion presentations and changing room schemes are part of the retail experience, while some locations also incorporate restaurants. Thomas Lundgren has described the proposition as offering an experience that is both meaningful and accessible: broadly mass-market in reach, but presented with a more prestigious atmosphere and design orientation. The company’s positioning therefore combines aspirational interiors with relatively affordable pricing. Rather than presenting products only as isolated commodities, THE One promotes complete home environments and the feelings associated with them. The format varies according to store size. Larger locations are primarily furniture-led, with decorative accessories used to complete room settings. Smaller “Boutique Theatres” place greater emphasis on accessories while using furniture to support the merchandising story. This flexible approach allows the brand to operate across different retail footprints while maintaining its theatrical identity. The company received regional recognition in 2007 when Arabian Business included it among the Gulf Cooperation Council region’s 50 Most Admired Companies. In 2024, THE One introduced a new-concept store at Dubai Hills Mall focused on its home-furniture collections, indicating continued investment in physical retail and the refinement of its store format. Publicly available reference material does not establish a current corporate owner, detailed financial results, a full executive roster, or an official corporate website.

THE One was established by Swedish entrepreneur and philanthropist Thomas Lundgren and opened its first store in Abu Dhabi in 1996. The business entered the market with a retail proposition focused on furniture, home accessories, and the presentation of complete interiors rather than on conventional product-by-product merchandising. Lundgren has linked the creation of the concept to a 1993 dream in which an angel gave him a mission to save the world from IKEA. This account became part of the brand’s founding mythology and helped frame THE One as a design-led alternative in the home-furnishings sector. The company’s stated ambition was not simply to sell furniture, but to create a distinctive emotional and theatrical experience around the home. The brand developed stores as interior “theatres.” Decorators assembled room settings and refreshed them through seasonal home-fashion presentations. Larger stores were generally centered on furniture, with accessories used to complete the visual environments. Smaller locations, referred to as “Boutique Theatres,” were more strongly oriented toward accessories and used furniture to reinforce the displays. Some stores also included restaurants, extending the concept beyond transactional retail. The company’s positioning sought to combine broad accessibility with a more prestigious presentation. Lundgren described the concept as mass-market while still aspiring to feel prestigious and affordable. This approach placed THE One between conventional furniture discounting and high-end interior boutiques, using store design, coordinated collections, and lifestyle storytelling to add value to the merchandise. In April 2007, Arabian Business named THE One among the Gulf Cooperation Council region’s 50 Most Admired Companies. The recognition reflected the company’s visibility in the regional retail and business environment, although the available reference material does not provide detailed operating or financial data for that period. In 2024, THE One opened a new-concept store at Dubai Hills Mall in Dubai. The location was focused on the company’s home-furniture collections and represented a further development of its physical retail model. Available public reference material confirms the company’s origins, retail concept, regional recognition, and 2024 store launch, but does not provide enough information to document a complete store-count history, country-by-country expansion timeline, ownership structure, financial performance, or detailed current management team.

• 2024

  Dubai Hills Mall concept store launches

  [1]The One (company)en.wikipedia.org

  THE One opened a new-concept location at Dubai Hills Mall focused on the company's home-furniture collections.

• 2007

  Named among the GCC's 50 Most Admired Companies

  [1]The One (company)en.wikipedia.org

  Arabian Business included THE One in its ranking of 50 admired companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council region.

• 1996

  First store opens in Abu Dhabi

  [1]The One (company)en.wikipedia.org

  THE One opened its first store in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, beginning its furniture and home-lifestyle retail operations.

• 1993

  Founding inspiration described by Thomas Lundgren

  [1]The One (company)en.wikipedia.org

  Thomas Lundgren later described a dream involving an angel and a mission to create an alternative to IKEA; the story became part of THE One's founding narrative.

Accessible premium home furnishings presented through immersive, theatrical retail environments. The brand emphasizes complete room settings, seasonal interior-fashion changes, emotional storytelling, and a blend of furniture with decorative accessories.

• Home furniture · 1996

  Furniture collections

  Furniture is the core of THE One's larger-store proposition. Collections are displayed in coordinated room settings rather than as isolated items, allowing shoppers to view sofas, tables, beds, storage, and related pieces as complete interior schemes. The available reference material does not identify specific named furniture ranges or technical product specifications.

• Home décor · 1996

  Home accessories

  Decorative accessories complement the furniture-led merchandising approach and are particularly important in the brand's smaller Boutique Theatre locations. They help create finished room environments and support the company's seasonal visual changes. Public reference material does not provide a complete item-level catalogue.

• Home décor

  Soft furnishings and textiles

  THE One's home-lifestyle format includes soft-furnishing and textile-related décor used to complete interior presentations. These products contribute to the brand's emphasis on mood, styling, and coordinated rooms, although the available sources do not specify individual product names or collections.

• 2024

  Development of the Dubai Hills Mall concept storeStrategy

  Background

  THE One continued developing its physical retail proposition through a new concept at Dubai Hills Mall, with particular emphasis on home-furniture collections.

  Action taken

  The company launched a new-concept store designed around its furniture offering.

  Aftermath

  The launch demonstrates continued use of physical stores as the principal vehicle for presenting THE One's immersive home-lifestyle proposition. Further performance results are not available in the cited material.

  Source

• 2021.12.07

  Reported2021.12.07

  The One launches silicone cleansing brush[2]The One推出硅胶洁面刷finanznachrichten.de

  The One announced the launch of its patented silicone facial cleansing brush, a smart device designed to remove the look of impurities and clean the skin.

Read more

1. 1The One (company)en.wikipedia.org
2. 2The One推出硅胶洁面刷finanznachrichten.de