Swedish furniture retailer Ikea opened on June 24 its second store in Romania, on Theodor Pallady Boulevard in southeastern Bucharest.

The store is the company's largest in Southeast Europe, with an area of 37,000 sqm, and required a EUR 90 million investment, including the land.

"Opening this store is the answer to the growing number of customers in Romania - only last year, IKEA saw an increase of 11%, making this country one of the best IKEA markets in the world! We are very proud of this fantastic result, and we are more than optimistic that we will continue with excellent performance in the future!" said Sara Del Fabbro, the new CEO of IKEA South East Europe.

The store will also offer a buy-back service that will allow customers to bring their used Ikea furniture in good condition and receive a voucher in return.

In the first five hours after the opening, the new store registered over 7,000 visitors and sales of RON 310,000 (EUR 66,000), the company announced.

Last year, Ikea announced that it wants to reach nine stores on the Romanian market, following investments estimated at over EUR 500 million, and the cities mentioned by the company for expansion were Timisoara, Braşov, and Cluj-Napoca.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Ikea Romania)