Ikea to open 5 stores in Korea over 6 years

Ikea, the Swedish home furnishing company, plans to open five stores in Korea by 2020 including its very first, which is slated to open in December in Gwangmyeong, western Gyeonggi.

“[The opening of our first store] is only the start,” said Patrick Schurpf, country project manager of Ikea Korea. “It’s our aim that we will be able to be very conveniently accessible for the majority of people in Korea. We envision five stores to be opened by 2020.”

Schurpf’s comments were made at a recent pre-opening event of its second so-called story room - similar to a pop-up store but with items that aren’t for sale - in Times Square Mall in Yeongdeungpo, western Seoul.

The story room, called “Hej Home! myhome” will be open to the public starting tomorrow until Aug. 22 and visitors can see some of the home furnishings offered by Ikea for living rooms, bedrooms, laundry rooms, offices, kitchens and gardens. They will also be able to sign up to become Ikea loyalty card members.

“We want to make sure that we can actually come through with this plan,” Schurpf said. “That’s our aim and vision we have.”

The exact date of the Gwangmyeong store’s opening, however, hasn’t been announced.

“Normally, we don’t really announce the opening date until a little bit later,” Schurpf said. “There’s a lot of preparations for us. We have to import a lot of products and we want to make sure we do it right."