Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

IKEA

Global economic woes hit Ikea

Ikea CEO Anders Dahlvig admitted Wednesday that the global economic slowdown is affecting his company “quite a lot”, reports Bloomberg News.

Published: 9 April 2008 14:58 CEST

Speaking at a retail conference in Barcelona, Spain, Dahlvig also said he expects the furniture giant’s future expansion to occur at a “much lower” pace.

Ikea has plans to open 22 more stores this year.

Dahlvig expects the company to focus capital investment in emerging markets such as Croatia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine in the coming years.

“I definitely see big challenges in the western world and opportunities in emerging markets,” he said.

Today, most of Ikea’s profits are generated in western Europe and the United States.

The retailer’s biggest market is Germany, which accounts for 16 percent of the company’s profits. The next three largest markets are the US, France, and Britain.

Last year, Ikea generated worldwide sales of $31.3 billion dollars at its 260 stores.

A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021.

A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Anyone who has found themselves wandering the mazy aisles of an Ikea might be able to empathise with the sense of being lost in the furniture store for a seemingly indefinite time.

Such a feeling was probably more real than usual for six customers and 25 staff members who were forced to spend the night at the furniture giant’s Aalborg branch after being snowed in.

Heavy snow in North Jutland brought traffic to a standstill and halted public transport in parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in a snow-in at Ikea.

“This is certainly a new situation for us,” Ikea Aalborg store manager Peter Elmose told local media Nordjyske, which first reported the story.

“It’s certainly not how I thought my day would end when I drove to work this morning,” Elmose added.

The 31 people gathered in the store’s restaurant area and planned to see Christmas television and football to pass the evening, the store’s manager reported to Nordjyske.

“Our kitchen staff have made sure there is hot chocolate, risalamande, pastries, soft drinks, coffee and the odd beer for us in light of the occasion. So we’ll be able to keep warm,” he said.

“We couldn’t just send them outside and lock the door behind them at our 8pm closing time. Absolutely not. So of course they’ll be staying here,” he added.

The temporary guests were given lodging in different departments of the store in view of the Covid-19 situation, Nordjyske writes.

“For us , the most important thing was to take care of each other and that everyone feels safe,” Elmose said.

At least Ikea’s stranded customers and staff had somewhere comfortable to lay their heads.

The same can unlikely be said for around 300 passengers at the city’s airport who had to stay overnight at the terminal.

The airport was forced to stop flights from 2:30pm yesterday amid worsening weather, which also prevented buses from transferring passengers to hotels.

“We have around 300 people in the terminal right now and have been giving out blankets on the assumption they will be staying here tonight,” Aalborg Airport operations manager Kim Bermann told Nordjyske.

READ ALSO: Ikea reopens in Denmark after country’s worst retail month this century

Url copied to clipboard!