IKEA Opens in Japan

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 Posted: 11:47 PM JST

IKEA will open its first Japanese store on April 24 in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture. A second store in Kohoku, Kanagawa Prefecture is planned to open later this year. Last year April the groundbreaking ceremony for this store was attended by Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. Ikea last year also selected land on Port Island, Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture. This store is scheduled to open by summer 2009.

The standard store in Japan will have a sales area of 30,000 square meters, parking space for 2,000 cars, and 500-700 employees. All stores will have a restaurant and a play area for children.

After the first store has started, IKEA will also offer online shopping in Japan. The opening of the stores is especially good news for foreign residents in Japan who find it difficult to find affordable furnishings that fit a non-Japanese style of living.

The IKEA Group, a Swedish home furnishing company, decided to enter the Japanese market in 2001 and established IKEA Japan K.K. in July 2002. In its first phase to develop the Japanese market, IKEA plans to open 4-6 stores in the Tokyo metropolitan area and 4-6 stores in the Kansai region. IKEA aims to offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.

Keywords: national_news

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