The Swedish furniture retailer IKEA could start next year the construction of the second store in Romania, which will last a year and a half. Romanian cities of Bucharest, Timisoara, Constanta, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca, Brasov are taken into account.

The construction of a store cost between EUR 15 million and EUR 25 million, according to Cornel Oprisan, retail manager of IKEA in Romania. 20 criteria were taken into account to choose the city where the next IKEA store will be built. The top 5 most important are the population density, income level, cultural influences, age distribution, and the education level.

Currently the most popular IKEA products are the bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms, which together recorded an increase of 22 percent. IKEA has 450 employees in Romania, and is spending annually for promotion about EUR 2.5 to 3 million.

The IKEA brand was registered in 1943 in Sweden, while the store in Romania was opened in 2007.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com