Ikea sets its sight on Silesia for new business ventures
Swedish retailer and furniture maker Ikea has opened a zl. 100 million ($22.7 million) store in Katowice, the first of two outlets planned for the heavily populated industrial province of Silesia. The other store will be in Gliwice, about 30 kilometers away, and is slated for completion in two years.
The Katowice outlet covers 23,600 square meters in the city's Al. Rozdzienskiego and is Ikea's seventh outlet in Poland. It brings the company's investments in the country to about $200 million. The Swedish chain also plans to invest a further $100 million by 2001 in three more outlets, as well as in a distribution center covering 100,000 square meters in Jarosty, near Lodz.
As well as setting up two stores in the Katowice area, Ikea also plans to add another store near Warsaw. The company, which already has a small store in downtown Warsaw and a large outlet in the suburb of Janki, next year plans to open another one in Targowek, northeast of the city.
Ikea is currently negotiating for new outlets in several other Polish cities including Lodz, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz and Torun, the company said. "We see enormous potential here, and we want to be ready for the coming boom," said Jan Musiolik, Ikea's president.
The company buys furniture locally and during the past year has bought zl. 1.2 billion ($270 million) worth of materials in the country.
