Home Digital The Story of IKEA The store part 1

The store part 1

What’s inside the big blue box?

Design & Form Distribution +3

Explore the development of IKEA stores, from the very first showroom in little Älmhult to today’s city stores. IKEA people behind the scenes reveal the inner workings of setting up a store and striking the balance between home furnishing inspiration and sales.

Design & Form Distribution +3

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IKEA in Stockholm
When IKEA opened its first store in Stockholm in summer 1965, it was Europe’s largest furniture store. It was big and it looked good, but it wasn’t exactly efficient. In fact you might say that it wasn’t until the store burned down five years later that IKEA really got the hang of the store concept. Along the way there were colourful little plastic balls, revolutionary posters, and a famous museum in New York. But it all began with a king in a muddy ditch.
First store abroad
IKEA went international and opened a store in Norway. But how did that decision come about? Through a combination of planning, business and instinct. And a pinch of Norwegian anger.
Hej!
Step into IKEA and of course you are met by all kinds of furniture and other stuff, but not before you’re greeted with a huge Hej!, Swedish for ‘hello’, at the store entrance. You might say that the entire corporate culture exists in this hej. Not a slick how-do-you-do-sir-or-madam-what-can-I-get-you, just a simple hej.