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Copenhagen: Ikea plans massive ‘green’ store

An Ikea warehouse in Vesterbro will embrace the "Copenhagen way" by offering cycle trailers, electric car chargers and a green roof complete with a football field.

Published: 17 April 2015 11:07 CEST
Copenhagen: Ikea plans massive 'green' store
If the plan is approved, the Ikea 'city warehouse' will be next to the Fisketorvet shopping mall by Dybbølsbro Station. Illustration: Ikea
Swedish home furnishing giant Ikea has announced plans for a massive new store in the heart of Copenhagen. 
 
The Ikea warehouse will be placed next to the Fisketorvet shopping centre in Vesterbro and will become the second largest Ikea in Denmark, behind the one located in the Copenhagen suburb of Taastrup. 
 
Ikea has reached a deal with DSB to convert the former railroad area between Dybbølsbro Station and Fisketorvet. The plans still need the City of Copenhagen’s approval but the company hopes that construction on the 37,000 square metre warehouse will begin in 2016. 
 
“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 Danmark, said. 
 
Speaking to Politiken, Balslev said the location would cater to the “Copenhagen way” by offering bicycle trailers or freight bicycles to customers who need to get large items home. 
 
The company said that the Vesterbro warehouse would become the company's "sustainable flagship store". Ikea plans to install an open rooftop green area complete with a multi-purpose sport field and implement other green initiatives including charging stations for electric cars and bikes, full LED lighting and cooling systems that will use water from the nearby harbour. 
 
Ikea predicts that the Fisketorvet location will create upwards of 500 new jobs and will have an 800 million kroner annual turnover within three years of opening in 2018. 
 
In addition to becoming the second largest Ikea in Denmark, the Vesterbro store will be only the company’s second “city warehouse” in the world. The other is in downtown Hamburg. 
 
A larger image of the planned Ikea warehouse can be seen here. 

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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.

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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