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Billy bookshelf does battle with Big Mac Index

Ikea’s iconic Billy bookshelf may be on its way to ousting McDonald’s Big Mac as a gauge for comparing price levels across different countries.

Billy bookshelf does battle with Big Mac Index

Earlier this week, the Bloomberg news agency published its first Billy Bookshelf Index, comparing the listed price of the bookshelf from Ikea websites in 38 countries.

The prices in local currency were then converted to US dollars using the average exchange rate over the past month.

According to Bloomberg’s Billy Bookshelf Index, the world average price of Ikea’s popular 2 metre high white bookcase is $60.09.

The cheapest Billys can be found in the United Arab Emirates, where the bookshelf costs $47.64. Meanwhile, shoppers in Israel have to pay a whopping $103.48 for the same model.

In Sweden, where the Billy was designed and has been sold for more than 30 years, the bookcase costs $55.11, slightly below the world average.

According to Kristian Siedenburg, the reporter who compiled the data on Billy prices, the index was originally meant to be similar to the Big Mac Index published by The Economist.

For more than 20 years, The Economist has used the classic American hamburger as the basis for an index to illustrate how closely exchange rates reflect the actual cost of goods in various countries, a concept known as purchasing power parity.

The Billy Bookshelf Index, however, differs because bookcases are considered durable goods, rather than consumer goods, meaning they aren’t purchased as often.

Thus it remains unclear whether or not Bloomberg will maintain the index in years to come.

“Ikea changes its prices only once a year,” Siedenburg told The Local.

But while the Billy Index may not be as useful as the Big Mac Index for illustrating the dynamics of purchasing power parity, it still may come in handy in discussions about business competition, transport costs, and price wars, he explained.

“Why is the UK cheaper than Hungary, for example, when you consider the average salaries,” he said.

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WEATHER

Danish Ikea store shelters staff and customers overnight during snowstorm

Heavy snowfall left 31 people looking for a spare cushion at the Aalborg branch of Ikea on Wednesday as they were forced to spend the night at the store.

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

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