Followed by the return of H&M and Inditex brands, including Zara and Bershka, to Ukraine, IKEA’s headquarters has decided to resume its operations in the country.
The decision to reopen was made by the Swedish management back in May, according to Forbes Ukraine, citing IKEA’s two top shopping center managers and two commercial real estate consultants.
The first IKEA store opened in Kyiv on February 1, 2021. However, it closed just over a year later due to safety concerns following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Ingka Group, which manages IKEA operations, said that employee and customer safety remains their top priority when considering reopening the Kyiv store.
“The return and success of H&M was an important signal for the head office of IKEA, and they also closely followed the recovery of Inditex,” according to Forbes Ukraine’s sources.
In March Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed the return of Inditex, one of the world’s largest fashion distributors, to Ukraine. The group includes brands like Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, and Zara Home.
Halting operations in March of 2022, IKEA completely withdrew from the Russian market by 2023, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
This suggests an improvement in Ukraine’s economic climate and opens the door to attracting further foreign investments in the country.
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