IKEA in Bulgaria! - Oh No!

Oh dear, and I though I had escaped IKEA by coming to Bulgaria. I don’t mind their goods, but I know the stores are the same worldwide and are horrendous for men. Women just love to browse and walk along the mandatory paths that send you past every single item on sale there. I just like to go in get what I want and come out - You can’t do that in IKEA. If IKEA had a mail order service it would be the most successful company in the world. When they do get here, they won’t see me there for dust! I like Bulgarian furniture, simple, practical and of course the cheapest in Europe!

Fourlis Holdings, the Ikea franchise-holder for Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, plans to open its first Bulgaria store by 2013, Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily quoted Reuters on October 14 2009.

Fourlis planned to open up to 12 new stores in the Balkans, including Bulgaria, Reuters quoted a CEO Apostolos Petalas. According to Reuters, Fourlis considered opening not one but two stores in Bulgaria.

This is not the first time Fourlis has revealed plans to open an Ikea store in Bulgaria. The first statements appeared in 2005. Later, it was announced that the first store would open its doors in Sofia in 2010.

Reportedly the company even bought land near the city ring road. In January 2009, Greek media went even further by saying that Fourlis had increased its stake in its Bulgarian Ikea franchise to 100 per cent and, secondly, its plans were to operate three Ikea stores in Bulgaria by 2013.

Currently, the nearest Ikea stores to Bulgaria are in Bucharest and Thessaloniki which has developed shopping tour services as many Bulgarians have started shopping there on weekends.

Source: http://www.sofiaecho.com