Ikea Group, the world’s largest furniture retailer, is “ready to open” its first store in Serbia by the end of 2013, Serbian President Boris Tadic said.
The new outlet would mark the return of the Swedish company, which had a smaller store in the capital Belgrade in 1991 and closed it after the outbreak of violence that accompanied the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.
Ikea plans to open a total of five stores in Serbia in the future and is in the process of obtaining permits to build the first one in Belgrade “as soon as possible” after it resolves “all administrative procedures,” Tadic said according to a statement issued by his office after a meeting with Ikea’s Chief Executive Officer Mikael Ohlsson in Belgrade today.
Ikea cooperates well with the Serbian authorities and has “got a confirmation that all administrative procedures will be completed efficiently and as quickly as possible,” Milena Vujicic, public relations manager for Ikea Southeast Europe, said an e-mail.
Source businessweek
