Ikea’s Russian freeze

Despite an agreement reached a year ago, Ikea intends to delay the establishment of a new retail centre with an Ikea outlet in the region of Woronesh (about 500 km south-east of Moscow) until the end of 2011. The administration was informed of this decision by the company at the end of August. While the massive bureaucratic hurdles in Russia were given as the reason for the stop to further expansion of the store network in 2009, in the present case the governor’s press centre refers to the consequences of the international financial crisis and the situation within the company itself. Ikea has invested more than four billion euros in Russia so far. It has a network of twelve stores there, with two more still under construction in Samara and Ufa. There has been no new furniture store opening for the past two years.