IKEA confirms first Cluj-Napoca store within RIVUS development

Swedish-founded furniture retailer IKEA confirmed plans to open its first store in Cluj-Napoca, northwestern Romania, within the RIVUS mixed-use development. It will be the company’s first owned store integrated into a new mixed-use project in IKEA’s Southeast Europe region.

The store will use a smaller urban format than IKEA’s existing Romanian locations, the company said. Most products will be available for immediate purchase, while customers will be able to order larger or more complex items in-store or online for home delivery.

It will also provide home-planning and order pickup services and include a Swedish Restaurant and Swedish Food Market.

“Cluj-Napoca has long been an important city in our development plans,” said Veronica Matei, country real estate manager for IKEA Southeast Europe. “Together with RIVUS, we are creating a new type of IKEA destination for Romania.”

In his turn, IULIUS CEO Tudor Ungurean stated that IKEA had consistently ranked among the brands most requested by the Cluj community in the company’s research. He added that 80% of the retail space at RIVUS had already been leased.

The new location is included in IKEA’s recently announced three-year investment plan for Romania. The company plans to invest approximately EUR 130 million, including EUR 125 million in expansion and development projects.

Around EUR 55 million of that amount will go toward expanding IKEA’s Romanian network with 10 new customer meeting points, including the Cluj-Napoca store.

IKEA has been present in Cluj since 2019, when it opened a kitchen-planning point. A pickup point followed in 2021 and a Plan and Order Point in 2025.

The company currently operates three full-size stores in Romania - two in Bucharest and one in Timișoara - along with six Plan and Order Points and five pickup locations.

RIVUS is being developed by IULIUS and Atterbury Europe on the former Carbochim industrial site. The EUR 550 million project covers 14 hectares and is planned to include more than 400 stores, cultural and leisure facilities, offices and over 52,000 square meters of green space.