TASS: IKEA will not sell business in Russia

The IKEA chain of home goods stores does not plan to sell the business in Russia and wants to return within two years. informed TASS source. It is specified that about 700 employees of the retailer in Russia will continue their work, the company’s warehouses and stores will remain closed until its official return.

“IKEA is not going to sell its business to anyone in Russia, which it has never done in other countries. The retailer plans to return to the Russian Federation on its own within a year or two, after the change in the economic situation and the weakening of sanctions pressure. Stores – the so-called blue boxes – will be closed until the return of IKEA, possibly rented out next year. At the same time, the company retains about 700 employees who will continue to work in offices and do work for Swedish colleagues,” the source said. He clarified that the company’s factories will be sold due to pressure from Sweden, but “with the option that in the future these factories will produce furniture and other products under their [ритейлера] orders at a reasonable cost.

This is not the first message about the possible resumption of IKEA in Russia. Earlier, information appeared on social networks that the Swedish retailer plans to resume work in Russia, but the press service denied this information and clarified that options for resuming work are not being considered now. Later, the trade union of the IKEA plant in Tikhvin in the Leningrad region announced the preparation of the enterprise for the resumption of work on September 1. According to the trade union, two shifts will work a week in a week, wages will be 90% of the salary, and no more than 80% will be paid for downtime.

On March 4, IKEA temporarily closed its stores in Russia amid a special operation in Ukraine and logistical problems. In mid-June, it became known that the company was looking for buyers for its four factories in Russia, as well as reducing staff and selling off the rest of the goods. The sale for employees took place at the end of June in the stores of the network, and for customers it started online on July 5 and continued until August 15. Customers have repeatedly complained about site failures. Difficulties arose due to the large number of people who wanted to buy IKEA products. To solve the problem, the company limited the number of people who could be on the site and make purchases at the same time, and introduced an online queue.

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