The second IKEA store in Romania and the largest store in South-Eastern Europe, located in the East of Bucharest, in Theodor Pallady Blvd., no. 57, entered in the last phase of construction (photo), according to IKEA Romania representatives, who expect it to be completed in a few weeks.
The retailer will also explore the possibility of opening a smaller stores located in city centers in the country. Interview exclusively for BricoRetail.ro.
IKEA began building the second store in Romania at the end of November 2017. It had to be opened by the end of the summer of 2018, after a total investment of 86 million euros.
„The new store is the largest IKEA store in South East Europe, and for large projects, as it is, it is normal that the deadline to be extended. We are glad to have entered the last phase of the project and look forward to soon meeting our first customers, „ the company’s representatives said.
The second IKEA store in Bucharest will have a total area of approximately 37,000 square meters, 1,300 parking spaces and charging stations for electric cars, a 550 seats restaurant, a bistro, a swedish delicatessen store and a children’s playground Småland.
„We are currently focusing on completing our second store in Bucharest and expanding our pick-up points network. Other formats will be explored in the future and we’ll inform the public in the event of additional expansion plans”, said IKEA Romania representatives.
At the beginning of construction of IKEA Pallady, the company’s representatives said that IKEA will have 9 stores in Romania by 2025, the next 3 cities that the retailer will open the next stores are Timisoara, Brasov and Cluj-Napoca.
Exploring the possibility of opening smaller store
„We will also explore the possibility of opening smaller stores located in city centers, in addition to the already known and traditional big blue boxes. To stay close to many people, we will continue to offer new formats to make sure we are affordable, convenient and sustainable today and in the future, „said IKEA Romania.
Online store
Opened almost five years ago, the online store www.ikea.ro exceeded sales expectations and the interest was very high.
„Also this year we have seen strong growth in e-commerce. In terms of customers, over 3.2 million people visited the IKEA store in Romania during this period and almost 18 million visits were posted on the site. We’ll continue to improve digital services so that we get closer to our customers and remain accessible to as many people in Romania as possible.
Romania remains one of the fastest growing markets in Europe. For example, in the financial year 2018 (September 1, 2017 – August 31, 2018), IKEA had another fantastic growth year. IKEA Romania posted an increase of 10.6% (609,348,314 Lei excluding VAT) compared to the previous year, „concluded IKEA Romania representatives.
IKEA
In Romania, the IKEA Group currently owns one store, in Bucharest. This was the 253 store of the company, opened on 21 March 2007 as a local franchise. In March 2010, IKEA Romania joined the IKEA South East Europe organization, including Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia.
This article is part of the CEE DIY retail category from www.bricoretail.ro B2B publication and bring together news, in english, from Central and East Europe related with DIY and home improvement retail.
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