Furniture
Ikea has said it wants to reimburse the state aid the company received in nine countries, including Belgium, during the coronavirus crisis.
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Three years after leaving the Belgian market, the interior chain Habitat is back in the country. At first only with an online shop, it is also expected to reopen physical stores there soon.
Belgian interior chain Casa International, active in eight countries, has applied for protection against creditors as the corona crisis has wiped out turnover. However, no store closures or redundancies are planned for the time being.
Creditors have offered to cancel half of the debt of Dutch chain Hema (some 300 million euros), if owner Marcel Boekhoorn hands them the ownership.
Ikea has stated it hopes to reopen its European stores from the end of April. In the meantime, the chain is offering advice by video conference in Belgium. The coronavirus crisis has already cost the Swedish company 60 % of its turnover.
Dutch retail chain Hema has reached an agreement with some of its landlords to halve the rent for its stores for April and May. It would appear that the intention of the Amsterdam-based retailer is to extend this agreement to all of its stores.
Swedish furniture giant Ikea has started selling its articles via Alibaba's Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall. It is the first time in its 77-year history that the furniture giant sells through a third party.
The Dutch Blokker chain is leaving Belgium and Luxembourg: owner Mirage Retail Group sells its 123 stores in both countries to the Dutch Retail Groep. In the coming months, they will be converted into 'Mega World' discount stores.
As of September, Jon Abrahamsson Ring will be the CEO of Inter Ikea, the company that manages the intellectual property of the Swedish furniture chain. He has been a close associate of founder Ingvar Kamprad for four years.
The great uniformity of apartment buildings from the Soviet era has proved to be a welcome inspiration for Ikea: in five stores, customers can use VR to give their apartment a virtual update. The tool may later be used in a number of other countries as well.
Even Ikea is having a hard time in the declining British market: in Coventry, in the centre of England, Ikea is forced to permanently close its store. 352 employees lose their jobs.
Next Thursday will be an all-important day for the Belgian branch of Dutch chain Blokker. The trade unions fear the announcement of new store closings, or an even worse fate for the chain...
The Danish Lars Larsen Group, the parent company of furniture chain Jysk, once again achieved record figures for the 2018/2019 financial year. Operating profit was 3.9% higher than a year ago.
Ikea is building a new, green city store in Vienna: there will be no parking, but the seven-storey building will have green balustrades and roofs with no less than 160 trees.
Decovry is taking over its German competitor Monoqi. Just like Decovry, this Berlin platform is a bargain site for design and home products. The takeover should double the Belgian provider’s turnover.
Beter Bed seems to be doing better again now that the company is rid of its German subsidiary Matratzen Concord. In the fourth quarter, organic sales from continuing operations increased by 4.7%.
