日本でも話題のイケアですが、そのオープンについて
ファイナンシャルタイムズでも記事になったそうです。
（下記参照ください）
イケアと言えば、ＮＹに住んでいたころに、何回も行きました。
マンハッタンには当時無くて、
ニュージャージーの方に一店と、ロングアイランドに一店あったと思います。
というように、本当に郊外にボーンと立っているという感じで、関東で言えば、
なんか、ケーヨーホームセンターとかカインズとか、そんな立地です。
ただ、売ってる商品は、本当に北欧風のおしゃれな家具類で、それが
自分で組み立てなければならないが、激安で売っているので、
お金持ちの白人よりも、ヒスパニックの人やアジア系の人がわんさか店に居る
という印象です。
自分で組み立てねばならず、結構、大きめの箪笥とかは、自分で山ほどねじを
締めなければならないので、「イケアでモノを買うと翌朝は、
腕などが筋肉痛になる」とアメリカ人の間では、軽口が叩かれていました。
ただ、日本では、あくまで、おしゃれな北欧家具、と言う位置づけだろうと思いますので、
（特に前回の日本進出時など）その辺、どうなることでしょうか？
まあ、これと似たようなポジショニング（北欧且つおしゃれ且つ激安）の
ファッションブランドとしては、
「H&M」( Hennes and Mauritz ＝ ヘンネス・アンド・モーリッツ)があると思いますが、日本にはもう進出しているのでしょうか？⇒どうも、出てきていないようです。
ご存じかと思います。
Ikea sees 'endless' scope in Europe
>By Päivi Munter in Helsingborg, Sweden
>Published: April 24 2006 03:00 | Last updated: April 24 2006 03:00
Ikea, Europe's biggest home furnishings group, sees scope for "endless" expansion in the region, although it criticises the European Union for slow progress with harmonising business conditions in member states.
Anders Dahlvig, Ikea chief executive, told the FT that Europe would remain the Swedish discount furnishings group's priority even as it expanded in Asia.
Ikea is today due to re-enter Japan after abandoning the highly competitive market 20 years ago - it first launched there in 1974.Mr Dahlvig said Ikea's20 per cent market share in Sweden showed the company still had significant potential to grow in the rest of Europe. Some 80 per cent of Ikea's $14.8bn sales last year were in Europe.
"Our share of the European markets outside Sweden is still a maximum [of] 10 per cent," Mr Dahlvig said. "Although we are the leader in these markets, of course there is still huge potential to grow. I don't really see a limit."
Including the new outlet in Japan, Ikea has 207 stores in 24 countries. In the past seven years, the group's sales have risen an average 15.5 per cent a year, a pace Mr Dahlvig said would not abate.
"The expansion rate is increasing," the chief executive said. "Seven years ago, we opened less than 10 new stores a year. Now we are opening about 20 stores a year."
Ikea is not a public company and does not disclose its financial performance.
The one exception in Ikea's apparently unstoppable expansion has been the UK, where the group's growth plans have stumbled on stringent planning regulations.
A shortage of suitable sites for Ikea's vast out-of-town outlets has forced the company to adjust its strategy in its second-biggest market after Germany.
Instead of its regular out-of-town stores, Ikea plans to build at least 10 smaller city-centre outlets in the UK. Next in line is a store in Ashton, near Manchester, due to open in October.
Mr Dahlvig said the planning restrictions had contributed to the British public's "love-hate relationship" with the company.
A programme to expand seven of its UK stores was designed to ease the pressure on Ikea's crowded outlets, he said. "We have fewer stores in the UK than the market would normally take. We have six stores - and the seventh on its way - in Paris but only four in London, for example."
Mr Dahlvig criticised the European Union and its member countries for a lack of effort in harmonising planning regulations and rules on opening hours: "It has been a little bit of a disappointment how slow integration has been in Europe."
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