Ikea announces opening date for second Bucharest store

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea will open its second Bucharest store on June 24. Ikea Pallady, located on the capital’s Theodor Pallady Boulevard, is the retailer’s second store in the country and the largest in South Eastern Europe.

The 37,000 sqm store will offer some 10,000 products, three complete interior design models, and 58 rooms of ideas and inspiration designed to answer the furnishing needs of local homes. It will also have a playground and a restaurant, serving both Swedish and Romanian dishes.

Besides the 500 jobs created during the construction phase, some 600 people will be employed once the store is open. The total value of the investment is close to EUR 90 million.

“After the excellent construction progress of the past months, I am happy to announce we will open the store on June 24 and we will bring our vision of creating a better daily life to even more Romanians. Besides the store, we finished the recruitment process and our employees are ready to welcome our guests and clients at the much anticipated opening,” Cas Lachaert, the store manager, said.

Ikea’s first local store opened in Bucharest’s Baneasa area in March 2007. The opening of the Pallady store was initially scheduled for last summer but the retailer has postponed the opening. The store was built by local contractor Bog’Art.

This year, Ikea also plans to open new “collection points”, places where customers can place and collect orders, in Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, and Constanta.

(Photo courtesy of Ikea)