Ikea opens second store in Romania earlier than initially announced

Swedish furniture and home décor retailer Ikea will open its second store in Romania by the end of next summer, earlier than initially announced. The company previously said the store would be completed by the end of 2018. The investment in the store, which will be located in the Theodor Pallady area, in Eastern Bucharest, amounts to EUR 86 million, including the land price. The Swedish retailer bought the plot of the former Anticorosiv factory in the summer of 2015 from US investment fund Broadhurst Investment. This is where the company is now building its second store in Bucharest, which will be the largest in South-Eastern Europe, with an area of 36,000 sqm. Ikea is also in advanced talks to buy two plots outside Bucharest, in Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara or Brasov. The company will open stores in these cities around 2020-2021. It plans to invest RON 2 billion (EUR 431 million) in the next ten years in Romania. Romanian investor Gabriel Popoviciu brought the Ikea franchise in Romania, in his Baneasa shopping project, in the spring of 2007. The store recorded losses in 2009 and 2010 due to the economic crisis. Popoviciu sold the Ikea operations in Romania to the Swedish retailer Ikea in 2010 with over EUR 30 million. The sales of the Ikea store in Bucharest have increased ever since. The company recorded sales of RON 586.5 million (EUR 126.3 million) between September last year and August 31, 2017, up 14% year-on-year. IKEA gets building permit for its second store in Romania editor@romania-insider.com