If reports are anything to go by then by the second quarter of 2018, IKEA – a Sweden-based leading multinational retailer of ready-to-assemble furniture and other home appliances, is set to open its store in Bahrain. The store spread over 37,000 sq. m. will be opened in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Ghassan Ahmed Al Sulaiman Furniture Trading Company and IKEA Saudi Arabia, and is expected to create around 600 jobs in the region.
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Saud Ghassan Al Sulaiman, Chief Executive Officer of IKEA Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, added, “Since the start of the partnership between IKEA and Ghassan Ahmed Al Sulaiman Furniture Trading Company in 1983, we have strived to expand and grow this innovative brand into a high potential market.”
The IKEA Bahrain store will also house a 6,200 sq. m. showroom, a 6,000 sq. m. market hall for accessories, 5,000 sq. m. of self-serve area, and 4,000 sq. m. of full serve area. Besides it will also have a 2,500 sq. m. restaurant. Fruto Hernandez, Expansion Manager – IKEA said that with all these facilities, the company is expecting a large chunk of visitors to visit its store daily and help boost its sales.
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IKEA currently has around 385 stores in over 48 countries. The IKEA concept stores focuses on offering a range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at competitive prices. Particularly in Saudi Arabia, the home giant has three stores in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dhahran with a total area of 78,000 sq. m.
