IKEA

IKEA International Group

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail (Specialty)
Founded	1943 in Älmhult, Småland, Sweden
Headquarters	Leiden, South Holland, The Netherlands
Key people	Ingvar Kamprad, Founder Anders Dahlvig, President Hans Gydell, President Inter IKEA Groupt
Products	self-assembly furniture, See section on products
Revenue	$28.6B USD ( 14%) (FY 2007)
Number of employees	104,000 (2006)
Website	www.ikea.com

Map of countries with IKEA stores.

IKEA is a privately-held, international home products retailer that sells low-price products, including furniture, accessories, bathrooms and kitchens at retail stores around the world. It became famous for the fact that the customer has to assemble many of the products. IKEA was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden and it is owned by a Dutch-registered foundation controlled by the Kamprad family. IKEA is an acronym comprising the initials of the founder's name (Ingvar Kamprad), farm where he grew up (Elmtaryd) and home village (Agunnaryd).

INGKA Holding B.V. is the ultimate parent company for all IKEA Group companies, including the industrial group Swedwood, which manufactures IKEA furniture, the sales companies that run IKEA stores, as well as purchasing and supply functions, and IKEA of Sweden, which is responsible for the design and development of products in the IKEA range. INGKA Holding BV is wholly owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation, which is a foundation registered in Leiden in the Netherlands.

Inter IKEA Systems B.V. also in Leiden, the Netherlands, owns the IKEA concept and trademark, and there is a franchising agreement with every IKEA store in the world. The IKEA Group is the biggest franchisee of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.

General overview

Flags at the store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The company distributes its products through its retail outlets. The chain has 260 stores in 35 countries; most of them in Europe, and in the United States, Canada, Asia and Australia. 2006 saw the opening of 16 new stores. There are plans to open another 24 stores in 2007. IKEA is one of the few store chains to have locations both in Israel and in other Southwest Asian nations.

IKEA is generally pronounced IPA: [iˈke.a] but in many English-speaking regions, it is pronounced IPA: [aɪˈkiːə] rhyming with the word "idea". In addition, it is generally pronounced IPA: [iˈki.a] in China, Singapore and Taiwan with a Chinese name Yíjīa(宜家): literally fit for home in written Chinese, as well as resembling the phrase right now in pronounciation in Cantonese.

The IKEA Website, contains about 12,000 products and is the closest representation of the entire IKEA range. In 2005 IKEA reported over 275 million visitors to their websites.

History

Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA

IKEA was founded in Älmhult, Sweden, in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, then 17. The acronym IKEA is incidentally similar to the Greek word οικία [oikia] (home) and to the Finnish word oikea (correct, right).

Originally, IKEA sold pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, watches, jewelry and nylon stockings or practically anything Kamprad found a need for that he could fill with a product at a reduced price. Furniture was first added to the IKEA product range in 1947 and, in 1955, IKEA began to design its own furniture. The company motto is: "Affordable Solutions for Better Living".

At first, Kamprad sold his goods out of his home and by mail order, but eventually a store was opened in the nearby town of Älmhult. It was also the location for the first IKEA "warehouse" store which came to serve as a model for IKEA establishments elsewhere and on March 23, 1963, the first store outside Sweden was opened in Asker, a Norwegian municipality outside Oslo.

Products

IKEA furniture is well known for its modern, utilitarian design. Much of IKEA's furniture is designed to be assembled by the consumer rather than being sold pre-assembled. IKEA claims this permits them to reduce costs and use of packaging by not shipping air; the volume of a bookcase, for example, is considerably less if it is shipped unassembled rather than assembled. This is also a practical point for many of the chain's European customers, where public transport is commonly used; the flat-pack distribution methods allow for easier transport via public transport from the store to a customer's home for assembly.

File:SWE Ikea.jpg

IKEA in Kungens Kurva, just south of Stockholm, Sweden

IKEA contends that it has been a pioneering force in sustainable approaches to mass consumer culture. Kamprad refers to the concept as "democratic design," meaning that the company applies an integrated approach to manufacturing and design (see also environmental design). In response to the explosion of human population and material expectations in the 20th and 21st century, the company implements economies of scale, capturing material streams and creating manufacturing processes that hold costs and resource use down, such as the extensive use of particle board. The intended result is flexible, adaptable home furnishings, scalable both to smaller homes and dwellings as well as large houses.

IKEA has also expanded their product base to include flat-pack houses, in an effort to cut prices involved in a first-time buyer's home. The product, named BoKlok was launched in Sweden in 1996 in a joint venture with Skanska. Now working in the Nordic countries and in UK, sites confirmed in England include London, Manchester, Leeds, Gateshead and Liverpool.

Although IKEA household products and furniture are designed in Sweden, they are largely manufactured in developing countries to hold down costs. Very little production actually takes place in Sweden.

Product names

IKEA products are identified by single word names. Most of the names are either Swedish, Danish, Finnish or Norwegian in origin. Although there are some notable exceptions, most product names are based on a special naming system developed by IKEA.

• Upholstered furniture, coffee tables, rattan furniture, bookshelves, media storage, doorknobs: Swedish placenames (for example: Klippan)
• Beds, wardrobes, hall furniture: Norwegian place names
• Dining tables and chairs: Finnish place names
• Bookcase ranges: Occupations
• Bathroom articles: Scandinavian lakes, rivers and bays
• Kitchens: grammatical terms, sometimes also other names
• Chairs, desks: men's names
• Materials, curtains: women's names
• Garden furniture: Swedish islands
• Carpets: Danish place names
• Lighting: terms from music, chemistry, meteorology, measures, weights, seasons, months, days, boats, nautical terms
• Bedlinen, bed covers, pillows/cushions: flowers, plants, precious stones; words related to sleep, comfort, and cuddling
• Children's items: mammals, birds, adjectives
• Curtain accessories: mathematical and geometrical terms
• Kitchen utensils: foreign words, spices, herbs, fish, mushrooms, fruits or berries, functional descriptions
• Boxes, wall decoration, pictures and frames, clocks: colloquial expressions, also Swedish placenames

For example, DUKTIG (meaning: good, well-behaved) is a line of children's toys, OSLO is a name of a bed, JERKER (a Swedish masculine name) is a popular desk, DINERA (meaning: dine) for tableware, KASSETT (meaning: cassette) for media storage. One range of office furniture is named EFFEKTIV (meaning: effective), SKÄRPT (meaning: sharp or clever) is a line of kitchen knives.

A notable exception is the IVAR shelving system, which dates back to the early 1970s. This item is named after the item's designer.

Because IKEA is a world-wide company working in several countries with several different languages, sometimes the Nordic naming leads to problems where the word means something completely different to the product. A well known example was the bed frame GUTVIK. As the word can be pronounced Gootfick it invites German-speaking people to understand it like gut fick which means "good fuck" in German.

Company founder Ingvar Kamprad, who is dyslexic, found that naming the furniture with proper names and words, rather than a product code, made the names easier to remember .

Store format

An IKEA Store along Alexandra Road in Queenstown, Singapore

Newer IKEA stores are usually very large blue boxes with few windows. They are often designed around a "one-way" layout which leads customers along "the long natural way". This layout is designed to encourage the customer to see the store in its entirety (as opposed to a traditional retail store, which allows a consumer to go right to the section that the goods and services needed are displayed) although there are often shortcuts to other parts of the showroom. The sequence involves going through furniture showrooms, housewares (market-hall), then the warehouse (Self Serve) where one collects flatpacks for products seen in the showrooms, and then arrive at the cashier's station to make payment.

Whilst the original design involved the warehouse on the lower level and the showroom and marketplace on the upper, many Canadian, Spanish and U.S. stores and all German stores differ by placing the marketplace downstairs, and some stores are single-level, bungalow-style. Some stores maintain separate warehouses to allow more stock to be kept on-site at any given time, although this occasionally results in challenges in finding the items, as well as a perception of having to queue in line twice.

Many stores include restaurants serving typically Swedish food, a few varieties of the local cuisine, and beverages such as lingonberry juice. The restaurant area is usually the one place in the store where there are large windows. Outside of Sweden, these restaurants are sometimes complemented by mini-shops selling Swedish-made, Swedish-style groceries. One can buy IKEA's specialty foodstuffs, such as Swedish meatballs from the store.

Many stores also include food markets specializing in Swedish food. Patrons can purchase various assortments of Swedish meatballs, packages of gravy and various cookies and crackers with a Scandinavian flare. IKEA also sells lingonberry jam in a wide array of sizes, including buckets.

Most of the Canadian locations also serve alcohol at their restaurants; a limited selection of bottled beer is available in coolers along with the various other bottled drinks such as milks, juices and sodas.

Most IKEA stores also offer an "as-is" area at the end of the warehouse just prior to the cashiers. Returned, damaged and formerly showcased products which are not in "as new" condition are displayed here, and sold with a discount, but also with a "no-returns" policy. In the United Kingdom and Australia, this is referred to as "Bargain Corner".

In Hong Kong, where shop space is limited and costly, IKEA has opened three outlets across the city, which are actually part of shopping malls. They are relatively tiny, compared to common "large blue box" store design, yet most of them are still in the "one-way" layout. However, the newest outlet in Telford Plaza does not follow this template, and the three independent floors can be accessed freely from each. Following IKEA tradition, though, the only cashier is located on the lowest floor.

Catalogue

Main article: IKEA Catalogue

File:Ikea2008 en-US.png

Cover of the 2008 edition US Catalogue

IKEA annually publishes a popular catalogue. First published in Swedish in 1951, the catalogue is now published in 17 languages for 28 countries, and is considered to be the main marketing tool of the retail giant, consuming 70% of the company's annual marketing budget.

The catalogue is distributed both in stores and by mail. Most of the catalogue is produced by IKEA Catalogue Services AB in IKEA's hometown of Älmhult, Sweden where IKEA operates the largest photo studio in northern Europe at 8,000 square meters in size. The catalogue itself is printed on chlorine-free paper of 10-15% post-consumer waste.

According to Canadian broadcaster, CTV, "IKEA's publications have developed an almost cult-like following online. Readers have found all kinds of strange tidbits, including mysterious cat pictures, apparent Mickey Mouse references and weird books wedged into the many shelves that clutter the catalogues." A Facebook group even celebrates the male dog found in the 2007 catalogue.

IKEA Family

In common with some other retailers, IKEA has launched a loyalty card in its stores in Sweden, Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Russia, China and Japan called "IKEA Family". The distinctive orange card is free of charge and can be used to obtain discounts on a special range of products found in each IKEA store. In particular, it gives 25% off a commissioned range of IKEA Family products on presentation of the card. The card also gives discounts on food purchased in the restaurant and the Swedish Food Market. In the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Russia it also entitles the holder to free coffee in the restaurant from Monday through Friday, this being adjusted to free tea in the UK.

In conjunction with the card, IKEA also publishes and sells a printed quarterly magazine titled IKEA Family Live which supplements the card and catalogue. The magazine is already printed in thirteen languages and an English edition for the United Kingdom was launched in February 2007. It is expected to have a subscription of over 500,000.

Corporate structure

Main articles: Stichting INGKA Foundation, IKANO, and Ingvar Kamprad

IKEA Twin Cities in Bloomington, MN, USA

Entrance to the world's most northerly IKEA store at Haparanda, Sweden (adjacent to Tornio, Finland). The bilingual signage is in Swedish and Finnish. The leftmost flag is the Sami flag.

Despite its Swedish roots, IKEA is actually owned and operated by a complicated array of not-for-profit and for-profit corporations of which Stichting INGKA Foundation located in Leiden in the Netherlands is the ultimate owner.

The IKEA corporate structure is divided into two main parts: operations and franchising. Most of IKEA's operations, including the management of the majority of its stores, the design and manufacture of its furniture, and purchasing and supply functions are overseen by Ingka Holding, a private, for-profit Dutch company. Of the IKEA stores in 35 countries, 231 are run by the INGKA Holding. The remaining 29 stores are run by franchisees outside of the Ingka Holding.

Ingka Holding is not, however, an independent company, but is rather wholly owned by the Stichting Ingka Foundation, which Kamprad established in 1982 in the Netherlands as a tax-exempt, not-for-profit foundation. The Ingka Foundation is controlled by a five-member executive committee that is chaired by Kamprad and includes his wife and attorney.

While most IKEA stores operate under the direct purview of Ingka Holding and the Ingka Foundation, the IKEA trademark and concept is owned by an entirely separate Dutch company, Inter IKEA Systems. Every IKEA store, including those run by Ingka Holding, pays a 3% franchising fee to Inter IKEA Systems. The ownership of Inter IKEA Systems is exceedingly complicated and, ultimately, uncertain. Inter IKEA Systems is owned by IKEA Holding, a company registered in Luxembourg. IKEA Holding, in turn, belongs to an identically named company in the Netherlands Antilles that is run by a trust company based in Curaçao. The owners of this trust company are unknown (IKEA refuses to identify them) but are suspected to be members of the Kamprad family.

In Australia, IKEA is operated by two companies. Stores located on the East Coast including Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria are owned by Inter IKEA Systems. Stores on the Western side of the country including South Australia and Western Australia are owned by Cebas Pty Ltd and operated under a franchise agreement with Inter IKEA Systems.

Tax avoidance

The central purpose of IKEA’s intricate corporate structure appears to be tax avoidance. By funneling its profits through a nonprofit foundation and through a string of shell corporations in various tax havens, IKEA drastically reduces the tax burden it would face with a more straightforward corporate organization.

In 2004, the last year that the INGKA Holding group filed accounts, the company reported profits of €1.4 billion on sales of €12.8 billion, a margin of nearly 11 percent. Because INGKA Holding is owned by the nonprofit INGKA Foundation, none of this profit is taxed. The foundation's nonprofit status also means that the Kamprad family cannot reap these profits directly, but the Kamprads do collect a portion of IKEA sales profits through the franchising relationship between INGKA Holding and Inter IKEA Systems.

Inter IKEA Systems collected €631 million of franchising fees in 2004, but reported pre-tax profits of only €225 million in 2004. One of the major pre-tax expenses that Inter IKEA systems reported was €590 million of “other operating charges.” IKEA has refused to explain these charges, but Inter IKEA Systems appears to make large payments to I.I. Holding, another Luxembourg-registered group that, according to The Economist, “is almost certain to be controlled by the Kamprad family”. I.I. Holding made a profit of €328 million in 2004.

In 2004, the Inter IKEA group of companies and I.I. Holding reported combined profits of €553m and paid €19m in taxes, or approximately 3.5 percent.

The Berne Declaration, a non-profit organization in Switzerland that promotes corporate responsibility, has formally criticized IKEA for its tax avoidance strategies. In 2007, the Berne Declaration nominated IKEA for one of its Public Eye “awards,” which highlight corporate irresponsibility and are announced during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Control by Mr. Kamprad

Along with helping IKEA avoid taxation, IKEA's complicated corporate structure allows Mr. Kamprad to maintain tight control over the operations of Ingka Holding, and thus the operation of most IKEA stores. The Ingka Foundation’s five-person executive committee, chaired and controlled by Mr Kamprad, appoints the board of Ingka Holding, approves any changes to Ingka Holding’s bylaws, and has the right to preempt new share issues. If a member of the executive committee quits or dies, the other four members appoint his or her replacement.

Even after Mr. Kamprad dies, his heirs will have difficulty altering the operation of the Ingka Foundation. The foundation's bylaws include specific provisions requiring it to continue operating the Ingka Holding group and specifying that shares can be sold only to another foundation with the same objectives as the Ingka Foundation.

Charitable giving

The INGKA Foundation is officially dedicated to promoting “innovations in architecture and interior design”. With an estimated net worth of $36 billion, the foundation is unofficially the world’s largest charitable organization, beating out the much better known Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a net worth of approximately $33 billion.

Despite its enormous wealth, the Ingka Foundation does very little charitable giving. Detailed information about its grantmaking is unavailable, as foundations in the Netherlands are not required to publish their records. But IKEA has reported that in 2004-2005, the Ingka Foundation's donations were concentrated on the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden, and the Lund Institute reported the receipt of $1.7 million grants from the foundation during both of those years. By way of comparison, the Gates Foundation made gifts of more than $1.5 billion in 2005.. The lack of any consistent and serious philanthropy by the Ingka Foundation suggests that its not-for-profit status is largely a tax avoidance strategy.

Notwithstanding the Ingka Foundation's lack of concerted philanthropic activity, IKEA is involved in several international charitable causes, particularly in partnership with UNICEF. These include:

• IKEA contributed 1 euro to UNICEF from each soft toy sold during the 2006 holiday season, raising a total of €1.75 million.
• In the wake of the 2005 Boxing Day Tsunami, IKEA Australia agreed to match dollar for dollar co-workers donations and donated all sales of the IKEA Blue Bag to the cause.
• After the Pakistan earthquake of 2006, IKEA gave 120,000 blankets to the relief effort in the region
• IKEA has provided furniture for over 100 "bridge schools" in India and Liberia [1].

IKEA also supports American Forests to restore forests and reduce pollution.

Community impact

IKEA's goals of sustainability and environmental design in their merchandise have sometimes been at odds with the challenges that the impact a new IKEA store can have on a community.

IKEA stores are not commonplace, particularly in the United States, where consumers anticipate a retail outlet to be fairly accessible and have a number of locations. While the stores draw consumers from far and wide, the traffic and congestion impact of a store on a particular community can be a challenge. Some attempts have been made to improve such issues such as free shuttle buses at some stores.

IKEA Barkarby, Stockholm, Sweden

• When an IKEA opened in April 2000 in Emeryville, California, the traffic was so severe that traffic lights had no effect. Emeryville police were forced to manually direct traffic daily for three months.
• When an IKEA opened in Tempe, Arizona in November 2004, the traffic jams on Interstate 10 were so thorough that the Arizona Department of Public Safety had to close the nearest off-ramp to the store just to spread out the traffic among other nearby off-ramps. More than a dozen people also attempted to park their vehicles on the Interstate and hop the fence leading to the store, but were forced to return to their cars by police threatening to have them towed.
• A new store opened in Edmonton, North London at midnight on 10 February 2005. It attracted over 6,000 visitors owing to huge opening discounts in the first three opening hours and resulted in a number of casualties as people were crushed in the rush to get into the store. The store was closed after only 30 minutes (because of the large number of customers there were inadequate security staff and police). The store was re-opened at 5pm on 11 February2005 with no additional incident.
• In Saudi Arabia three people were crushed to death in September 2004 when IKEA offered a limited number of free $150 vouchers.
• The IKEA store in Jeddah used to be a popular place for flirting for unmarried couples, a practice strictly forbidden by Saudi rigorous religious law. The religious police would then frequently raid the IKEA store to lecture patrons or chastise them on what is considered indecent or inappropriate behaviour.

IKEA at Atlantic Station in Atlanta, GA.

• The Stoughton, Massachusetts store opened on 9 November 2005. Nearby highways came to a standstill; approaching the store from less than 1 mile could take more than an hour. IKEA employees indicated that on the first Saturday of operation, the Stoughton store would have sales of $1-1.2M. Over 300,000 visitors were expected on the first weekend of operation.
• IKEA was refused planning permission for a further store in the United Kingdom in 2004 (to be based in Stockport) by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It applied for judicial review but lost in 2005. However, they later received permission to build a store in Ashton-Under-Lyne a few miles from the originally planned site. An estimated £10,000 was spent on traffic policing, and even more on rerouting traffic from the M60 motorway around Ashton.
• IKEA announced it would open its first city centre store in Coventry, UK in 2007 and hopes to create over 500 jobs. There are concerns that the outlet will cause traffic gridlock in what is one of the UK's largest cities. The construction of Coventry's IKEA is being monitored on the IKEA Coventry blog at [2]. Coventry City Council were the only UK authority to allow a city centre build.
• A store that opened in Canton Township, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit) in June 2006 caused traffic jams for hours and experienced a huge crunch of people when it opened. [3]
• The IKEA megastore currently under construction (as of 2007) in Brooklyn, New York is dividing the community. The section of Brooklyn where the store is being constructed is located in the neighborhood of Red Hook, which is notably isolated from major transportation arteries.
• Ireland's first IKEA store, to be located in Ballymun just outside Dublin, has required Irish cabinet approval as it is in contravention of planning law. There are fears of further gridlock on the M50 Motorway if the Republic of Ireland store is allowed to be built.
• After viewing the 100 foot tall sign of an IKEA under construction near Portland International Airport, Randy Leonard, the city commissioner in charge of sign permits in Portland, Oregon, placed a moratorium on all pending and future sign permits in the area. [4]

Criticisms

Paris Nord 2, Roissy, France

Some criticisms of IKEA:

• IKEA has demolished historic buildings in at least one case for a parking area.
• In the 1990s, there were several complaints arising from IKEA's British television advertising campaigns:
  • “Stop being so English”: In which a “Swedish psychologist” claims the British are uptight due to their taste in “English” furniture (complaints were dismissed).
  • An advertisement where a management consultant suggests how much more furniture a company could buy, if it fired an office worker (complaints were dismissed but IKEA voluntarily withdrew the advert).
  • A campaign under the slogan, "Just pack up, ship out, find a place of your own. And for all your new things, you know where to come. Make a fresh start," got complaints that it was trivializing marriage breakups (complaints were dismissed).
  • An advertisement in which a boss tells members of his staff to smell each other's armpits.
• IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad was, as a teen, directly involved in the pro-Nazi New Swedish Movement (Nysvenska Rörelsen) until at least 1945, causing tensions when IKEA began opening stores in Israel. Kamprad devotes two chapters to his time in Nysvenska Rörelsen in his book, Leading By Design: The IKEA Story and, in a 1994 letter to IKEA employees, called his affiliation with the organization the "greatest mistake of his life."
• Former Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik has criticized IKEA for not depicting women assembling furniture in its instruction booklets, despite the fact that many sets of instructions do, in fact, show women - though not often. The official explanation from IKEA is that depicting women at work assembling furniture could be construed as offensive in Muslim countries.
• In 2004 there was controversy about the law in Ireland, restricting the maximum size of a retail outlet. The law had previously stated that no shop may exceed 6,000 m² in size. When it was revealed IKEA had the intention to build a store in Dublin the law was put up for debate as 6,000 m² was deemed far too small. In the end the law was changed to allow for retail outlets selling durable goods to be built without a limit in designated areas (providing the building itself is approved by standard planning laws). The then Minister for the Environment came under fierce criticism for what was seen as changing the law to suit one company (although B&Q had already built a 10,000 m² store in Dublin). He defended his decision citing that if they hadn't been changed, IKEA would have most likely built a store in Northern Ireland which would be used by customers from the Republic of Ireland anyway. This would have been undesirable as in that scenario, the VAT on the goods would end up going to the UK government..
• The 2007 IKEA catalogue was involved in a controversy concerning a dog in the interior-front-cover photo depicting what appeared to some to be a human-looking penis. It has been denied by the company who commented that the "object in question" is in fact the dog's leg.
• In June 2007, an email newsletter was sent to the subscribers of the IKEA USA newsletter service, urging parents to buy IKEA products or gift cards for their graduate students' new dorm rooms. [5] Amongst the text on the e-flyer was the humorously intended advert for the colourful 'Brunkrissla' bedding stating that it "Brightens up your grad's dorm. Unlike a creepy gothic roommate, who can be a bad influence." Members of the goth subculture reacted extremely negatively to this negative stereotyping of their culture and values. [6]
• Also in June 2007, The SDLP complained about an artist's impression of IKEA Belfast posted on the IKEA website. The picture, consistent with other IKEAs around the world, showed three flags at the front of the building. In this case they included the Flag of Sweden, the Union Flag and the controversial Red Hand of Ulster flag. After being labelled "an upmarket Orange hall" by the party, IKEA has attempted to reassure customers and co-workers that, in reality, only the Swedish flag would be seen outside the store.

Advertising and awards

IKEA ran a commercial widely thought to be the first commercial featuring a gay couple. It aired only once, in 1994.[7] Another commercial, featuring an interracial gay couple, was run in 2006. It has also had other commercials targeting the gay community, as well as a commercial featuring a transgendered woman. [8]

IKEA was also named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 and 2005 by Working Mothers magazine. It ranked 96 in Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2006 and, in 2007, was recognized as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers published in Maclean's magazine.

Design reform

As pointed out by circuit lecturer Will Novosedlik, IKEA embodies the principles of design reform begun by William Morris and John Ruskin, insofar as the company seeks to elevate public taste by providing quality goods at affordable prices.

IKEA is sometimes compared to the late design school of Bauhaus in Germany, in which art, aesthetics, and function was introduced into everyday objects in mass quantities.

IKEA's debut in each country

Year	Country	Location	Notes
1958	Sweden	Älmhult	Currently 17 stores. Sweden has the worlds largest IKEA (outside Stockholm 55,200 m²).
1963	Norway	Asker (Nesbru)	Currently there are 5 IKEA stores in Norway.
1969	Denmark	Copenhagen (Ballerup)	Moved to Høje Tåstrup circa 1979. Currently, there are four stores in Denmark.
1973	Switzerland	Zürich (Spreitenbach)	First IKEA outside of Scandinavia. Currently, there are 6 stores in Switzerland. In September, one more store in St. Gallen.
1974	Germany	Munich (Eching)	41 stores, biggest market
1974	Japan	Kobe	This was a joint venture with a Japanese department store. It withdrew from the market in 1986 because of stagnant sales; an IKEA opened in Funabashi, Chiba in 2006 that included a distribution partnership with the Mitsubishi Corporation under the supervision of prominent account executive, Ai Kobayashi-Boswell
1975	Australia	Sydney (Artarmon)	Closed 2005, in preparation for a new & larger store in Rhodes which is now open and trading as of 2005/2006. There are a total of 5 stores in Australia (as of April 2007), one in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. (Perth and Adelaide are a franchise owned by CEBAS Pty LTD) Perth is set to be relocated in late 2007 to a larger store. Adelaide is set to be upgraded by extending 25%
1975	Hong Kong	Kowloon (Tsim Sha Tsui)	Closed. A total of 3 stores and 1 warehouse around in Causeway Bay, Kowloon Bay, Shatin and Sheung Shui as of 2007. All stores are franchises owned by Jardine.
1976	Canada	Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (Burnside Park)	This was IKEA flag ship store in Canada. IKEA was open on Sundays, which was illegal in Nova Scotia until autumn 2006. The Government forced IKEA to close on Sundays in 1988, and IKEA responded by closing its Dartmouth store a few months later in 1988, and moved its operations to the Quebec City store. IKEA vowed it would never return to Nova Scotia. There are over 11 locations in the rest of the country.
1977	Austria	Vienna (Vösendorf)	There are currently 6 IKEA stores in Austria.
1978	Singapore	Bukit Timah (Sixth Avenue)	Original store moved to Katong in 1984, then to its own premises along Alexandra Road in Queenstown in 1995. The second store opened in Tampines on 30 November 2006.
1978	The Netherlands	Sliedrecht	12 stores. New stores in Breda and Barendrecht. The old store in Sliedrecht closed in 2006.
1980	Spain	Gran Canaria (Las Palmas)	Now there are 12 stores on Mainland Spain, 2 stores in the Canary Islands and 1 store in the Balearic Islands.
1981	Iceland	Reykjavík	New store opened in Garðabær in October 2006, old store closed
1981	France	Paris (Bobigny)	There are 20 stores in France. In October 2007, one more store will be opened. With a total of 6 stores, Paris is the city in the world with the most Ikea stores.
1983	Saudi Arabia	Jeddah	Two stores. One in Riyadh and the other is in Jeddah.
1984	Belgium	Brussels (Zaventem and Ternat)	There are 6 stores in Belgium.
1984	Kuwait	Kuwait City	The first IKEA store in Kuwait opened in the industrial district of Shuwaikh in 1984, but this store closed when IKEA transferred to a significantly larger, brand new facility at The Avenues shopping mall in early 2007.
1985	United States	Philadelphia	The first IKEA store in the U.S. was built in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania and has since moved about 2 miles away to a larger location. As of April 11, 2007, the original IKEA building is in the process of being demolished. There are currently 31 IKEA stores in the U.S., with four new stores announced. A Southern California-based chain, STØR, was opened in 1987 and was sued by IKEA for copying the layout of their stores, as well as their catalogs. IKEA acquired STØR in 1992.
1987	United Kingdom	Warrington, Cheshire	There are 15 stores in the UK, the largest is in Brent Park in North London standing at 31,100m² . Stores are currently under construction in Coventry and Belfast. with a 18th being proposed for Southampton. . IKEA are also reported to be looking for a location in South Yorkshire.
1989	Italy	Milan (Cinisello Balsamo)	There are currently 13 IKEA stores in Italy.
1990	Hungary	Budapest	Currently there is one store in Budapest, and one in nearby city Budaörs.
1991	Poland	Warsaw (Janki)	Currently Warsaw has two stores (Janki & Targówek). Also, there are IKEA stores in Gdansk, Wroclaw, Katowice, Krakow and Poznan.
1991	Czech Republic	Prague (Budějovická)	There are two IKEA stores in Prague - one at Zličín and one at Černý most. In the Czech Republic there are two more shops - in the second largest city of CZ, Brno, and in Ostrava. The first original store at Budějovická - Prague 4 was abandoned. Both Zličín and Černý most are located at the periphery of Prague and at the endstations of underground line B.
1991	United Arab Emirates	Dubai
1992	Slovakia	Bratislava	Original store was closed upon the opening of a new store located in the Avion Shopping Park.
1994	Taiwan	Taipei
1996	Finland	Espoo	New store in Vantaa in 2005
1996	Malaysia	Bandar Utama	Re-located to Mutiara Damansara in 2003. The new IKEA store in Mutiara Damansara was the largest in Asia at that time with a shop floor area of approximately 270,000 sq.ft
1998	China	Beijing
2000	Russia	Moscow (Khimki)	Currently there are 3 IKEA stores in Moscow (Khimki, Teply Stan and Belaya Dacha), 2 IKEA stores in St. Petersburg (Parnas and Dybenko), stores in Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Kazan. There are also 8 MEGA malls developed by IKEA (3 in Moscow, 2 in St. Petersburg, in Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Kazan). IKEA stores and MEGA malls in Novosibirsk, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Krasnodar, Ufa are under construction now. Opening in 4Q 2007 – 1Q 2008
2001	Israel	Netanya	A second store was supposed to be constructed in Rishon LeZion.
2001	Greece	Thessaloniki	First store opened in Thessaloniki, October 24, 2001. Second store opened in Athens, April 23, 2004. A third store, also in Athens, is currently under construction.
2004	Portugal	Lisbon (Alfragide)	Second store opened on July 31, 2007 in Matosinhos, with 36,000 square meters.
2005	Turkey	Istanbul	Second store opened at April 6, 2006 in Izmir.
2007	Romania	Bucharest (Băneasa)	26,000 square meter store opened March 21st, 2007 in Baneasa "Feeria" Shopping Center
2007	Cyprus	Nicosia (Strovolos)	There is one store in Cyprus.
2008	Ukraine	Kiev	The first Ukrainian IKEA store and MEGA mall will be open in 1Q 2008 in Kiev
2008	Bulgaria	Sofia	The first Bulgarian IKEA store is expected to open doors in 4Q 2008 in Sofia
2009	New Zealand	Auckland	IKEA has purchased a site near Auckland to open New Zealand's first store. it is slated for an early 2009 opening. it is owned by the franchisor of Perth+Adelaide.
TBA	Republic of Ireland	Dublin (Ballymun)	Approved by the government. The store was intended to be opened in 2007 but due to conditions imposed by the local authority, its construction was severely delayed. On 2007-06-13 the Irish Planning Board, An Bord Pleanála, finally gave the go ahead for the store. .
TBA	Serbia	Belgrade	IKEA is reported to be looking for a site in Belgrade to open Serbia's first store. There are three possible lot locations all 25 ha in size.

See also

• List of Swedish companies
• European Retail Round Table

External links

Official sites

• IKEA - Official site
• How IKEA works
• IKEA US catalogue - IKEA US catalogue splash
• IKEA Australia catalogue - IKEA Australia catalogue site

Fan Sites

• Positive Fanatics - The Unofficial IKEA Web Journal
• IKEAFANS Forums, Galleries, Blogs, the IKEApedia and Library with answers to all things IKEA
• OHIKEA - Ohio Fansite Blog with the latest scoops and rumors regarding the IKEA near Cincinnati still being built.
• Lyrics to Jonathan Coulton's 'IKEA'
• Lyrics to Mitch Benn's 'IKEA'
• IKEA Coventry
• IKEA Hacker - a blog compiling IKEA hacks worldwide, now with forums hosted at www.ikeafans.com/forums/ikea-hacker

News coverage

• IKEA to cut 300 managerial jobs
• Ikea opens overnight stay stores
• Ikea destroyed ten ancient tombs during new store construction in China
• "The miracle of Älmhult" by Oliver Burkeman from the Guardian newspaper. The writer talks about his visit to IKEA's HQ in Älmhult
• "IKEA: Flat-pack accounting". The Economist. 2006-05-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Business data for IKEA International A/S:
  • Google
  • Yahoo!