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IKEA

First ‘city warehouse’ in Scandinavia for Ikea

Swedish furniture giant has announced plans to open its first 'city warehouse' in Scandinavia, with a massive new store set to be built in the centre of Copenhagen, as plans for a similar project in Stockholm remain in doubt.

Published: 17 April 2015 12:08 CEST
First 'city warehouse' in Scandinavia for Ikea
What the new store will look like. Photo: Ikea
The new Ikea warehouse will be placed next to the Fisketorvet shopping centre in the Vesterbro area of Copenhagen, making it easily accessible by public transport for potential Swedish customers travelling over the Öresund Bridge from Malmö.
 
“A city warehouse at a central location in Copenhagen has been high on our wish list for a long time. We want to come closer to Copenhageners and accommodate what our Copenhagen customers have expressed for many years – that we come closer [to the city centre],” Dennis Balslev, the head of Ikea Denmark, said in a statement.
 
 
The only other Ikea city warehouse in the world is in Hamburg, with plans for a similar initiative in Stockholm currently stalled following concerns from the city's Social Democrat-led council about the firm's plans to build a 4000 space car park and the subsequent potential impact on traffic.
 
"4000 surface parking spaces is not an alternative we are considering. We will look at other solutions. We are building the city," city planning commissioner Roger Mogert said in an interview with the local newspaper for the Årsta/Enskede region last November.
 
"We are still having discussions with Ikea and hopefully later in the spring or the summer we will reach a decision," Ömer Oguz, a spokesperson for the Social Democrat party in Stockholm told The Local on Friday.
 
The new Danish Ikea warehouse will become the second largest in Denmark, behind the one located in the Copenhagen suburb of Taastrup. 
 
It is set to become the company's "sustainable flagship store" including an open rooftop green area complete with a multi-purpose sport field, charging stations for electric cars and bikes and LED lighting and cooling systems powered by water from the nearby harbour. 

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.

Published: 2 December 2021 09:11 CET
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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