October 12 (SeeNews) - Greece-based durable goods provider Fourlis Group, the exclusive franchisee of Swedish furniture retailer IKEA in Bulgaria, will open a new store in Bulgaria's northern city of Veliko Tarnovo in the fourth quarter of 2023, Fourlis subsidiary House Market Bulgaria said.
The IKEA store, the sixth to open in Bulgaria, will be located at Mall Veliko Tarnovo and will be a plan and order point, House Market Bulgaria said in a press release on Tuesday.
Spread over an area of 1,800 square metres, the new IKEA store will offer customers home furnishings, housewares and Swedish food products for immediate purchase. It will also offer support in planning and ordering products from the entire IKEA range.
"The process of opening a new chain point includes a series of studies in the region that have already started to make sure we meet the high expectations of our current and future customers," IKEA Bulgaria manager Nikos Ifantidis said.
Fourlis Group entered the Bulgarian market in 2011 with the opening of the first IKEA store in Sofia. The group already operates two plan and order points in the country - in Burgas and Plovdiv.
Ikea launched a concept store in Varna in 2020 and inaugurated a second one at Mall of Sofia shopping centre last year.
Plan and order points and concept stores have in recent years been part of IKEA's aim to bring its traditionally large stores on city outskirts closer to customers in city centres. In 2019, the Swedish furniture retailer opened smaller stores and planning studios in a number of locations including New York and Copenhagen.
In September, Fourlis Group reported an 18% annual growth in sales under the IKEA brand to 131.6 million euro ($127.8 million). The Greek group operates IKEA large and medium stores and order and pick-up points in Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria. As many as three new medium-size IKEA stores are under design or construction in Greece, and are scheduled to open within two to three years.
($ = 1.02971 euro)