by John Marone, Kyiv Post Staff Writer<\/p>\n
A multinational furniture retail giant intent on expanding its presence in Ukraine looks set to finally get land to build a store after years of delay.<\/p>\n
IKEA, a Swedish conglomerate registered in the Netherlands, has been trying for more than three years to acquire a plot on Kyiv\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left bank, where it wants to put up a $400 million shopping mall, but a dispute over the land has delayed the vast shopping mall project.
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\nNow, IKEA is close to clinching retail space in Odessa.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes, it looks like we are on our way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Director of IKEA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ukrainian office Frida Malmqvist told the Post on Sept. 12.<\/p>\n
She said negotiations are still in progress for land in six different Ukrainian regions, but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153we are currently most hopeful about Odessa.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Malmqvist said the company is prepared to invest around $2 billion in these projects, but first has to get land.<\/p>\n
IKEA had originally set its sights on launching Ukrainian retail operations at a wooded site on the edge of Kyiv, but the city has stalled approval, citing environmental concerns.<\/p>\n
The plans for Kyiv\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left bank include a family shopping center with up to 150 different retail and entertainment facilities.<\/p>\n
The main problem in acquiring land in Ukraine, according to Malmqvist, is a shortage of adequate plots. IKEA seeks green areas on the outskirts of urban areas but close to main transportation arteries.<\/p>\n
The task is complicated by Ukraine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s moratorium of the sale of agricultural or forest land, which necessitates getting a waver from top officials.<\/p>\n
Amidst the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continuing political chaos, the question becomes: Who do you ask?<\/p>\n
In July 2004, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad first met with now former President Leonid Kuchma to discuss the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s investment plans. In March 2012, Kamprad returned to Ukraine to meet with newly elected President Viktor Yushchenko. It was during this visit, according to IKEA spokespeople, that Kamprad received \u00e2\u20ac\u0153verbal approval\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s $1.2 billion investment plans.<\/p>\n
But negotiations were stalled, as environmental groups, such as Ukraine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greens Party, protested against developing the wooded area that same year. The city offered IKEA an alternative plot of land in another part of the city, but IKEA continued to pursue the left-bank plot.<\/p>\n
Six years earlier, in March 2000, the furniture giant had opened its first store in Moscow, where it has pumped hundreds of millions of euros into building retail outlets surrounded by modern shopping malls replete with restaurants and recreational facilities.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are always looking for new places,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Malmqvist said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But we have still not given up hope of opening our first store in Kyiv,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she added.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, IKEA Ukraine is involved in another segment of the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s operations \u00e2\u20ac\u201c buying and exporting locally made furniture.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just open stores, we trade furniture as well to widen our income base,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Malmqvist said.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Currently, IKEA Ukraine has around 20 employees in Ukraine involved in seeking out Ukrainian furniture makers that meet the international company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s standards.<\/p>\n
The furniture is exported and sold abroad under the IKEA brand name.<\/p>\n
IKEA launched its Ukrainian trading operations in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They are still very small compared to Russia,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Malmqvist said.<\/p>\n
IKEA has also operated a saw mill and furniture plant in western Ukraine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Transcarpathia Region for more than a decade, but is better known for its furniture outlets and the shopping centers it builds around them.<\/p>\n
The Swedish company sells low-priced products, including furniture, accessories, bathrooms and kitchens at retail stores around the world.<\/p>\n
IKEA boasts more than 100,000 coworkers in 44 countries, 210 stores in 24 countries, 45 trading service offices in 31 countries, and 26 distribution centers and 10 customer distribution centers in 16 countries.<\/p>\n
The Swedwood Group, the industrial division of IKEA, has 36 factories and sawmills in nine countries.<\/p>\n
IKEA Group sales for the financial year 2013 totaled 17.3 billion euros.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by John Marone, Kyiv Post Staff Writer A multinational furniture retail giant intent on expanding its presence in Ukraine looks set to finally get land to build a store after years of delay. IKEA, a Swedish conglomerate registered in the Netherlands, has been trying for more than three years to acquire a plot on Kyiv\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-furniture-indonesia-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}