IKEA PH To Open Soon!
The Swedish furniture giant finally found a local partner
Last week, we published an article about a job opening that IKEA Southeast Asia posted on LinkedIn. They are looking for a design manager who will be based in Manila to oversee the construction of IKEA’s first store in the Philippines. He or she will also “work close together with the design team and play a crucial role in preparing, planning and executing of our first IKEA store in the Philippines.”
We didn’t get any confirmation about the store finally opening its doors in the near future—until today. In a recently published article, Josefin Thorell, a spokesperson for Inter IKEA Systems B.V. (the IKEA’s worldwide franchisor) said that the well-loved brand has given the franchise right to Ikano.
According to its company website, Ikano used to be part of IKEA before becoming an independent group of companies also owned by the late Ingvar Kamprad and his family in 1988. The company is involved in many businesses like the Ikano Bank, Dendro Poland (IKEA’s supplier of foam mattresses), and IKEA Southeast Asia, operating the stores in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
In another story published by Business Mirror last January, IKEA Sustainability and Communication Director Lars Svensson mentioned that an official announcement will be made within this year. Given this development and the job posting on LinkedIn, we can only patiently wait for IKEA Philippines’ opening date. The possibility of having an IKEA store in the Philippines has been in the air for years given the popularity of the brand among Filipinos and the demand for quality furniture.
Main photo from: Earnest.com.
