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IKEA

Ikea cracks down on French fan’s website

A French blogger and Ikea fanatic has incurred the wrath of Swedish furniture giant after he created a website called Ikeapedia in the chain's honour.

Published: 18 June 2015 16:43 CEST
Ikea cracks down on French fan's website
Ikeapedia? No thanks says Ikea. Photo: Gerard Stolk/Flickr
French blogger Loic Bréat, 36, is a serious Ikea fan. So much so, in fact, that he has created two websites in the store's honour.
 
The first, IkeaAddict, was made back in 2009 for French fans of flatpack furniture and still boasts thousands of fans and followers on social media channels like Facebook and Pinterest. 
 
His latest project, Ikeapedia, categorizes everything that Ikea has ever made – including instruction manuals and a question/answer section for those struggling to assemble their product.
 
 
But the Swedish giant is having none of it, and has threatened legal action if the Frenchman doesn't take the website offline, reported French channel BFM TV on Thursday. 
 
Ikea is notorious for its brand protection. An incredibly popular website called Ikea Hacker, which publishes user modifications of Ikea furniture, was also threatened with a cease and desist order from the chain last year. 
 
The site remains up and running today after an outcry from the public saw Ikea backtrack, with a spokesperson saying in a statement that the company regretted the incident deeply. The site currently has over 250,000 fans on Facebook. 
 
Not all brands have such a staunch protection of their name. Nutella once tried to put a stop to “Nutella Day”, which was invented by a fan, but later embraced it to great success. 
 
 
 
 

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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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