Ikea venture too advanced to reconsider in recession
IKEA faced a "Challenging Year". Photo: Getty Images
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Thursday July 23 2009
SWEDISH retail giant Ikea has admitted it might have "reconsidered" its Irish launch if work on their Ballymun site wasn't well advanced by the time the recession hit.
Ikea Dublin boss Garry Deakin also confirmed the store's year one targets have been pared back by "12 to 15pc" in shopper terms and "more than that" in value terms.
The comments come as Ikea prepares to open its long-awaited Dublin store on Monday.
Asked about the business case for the store in the current environment, Mr Deakin replied: "If you were there today and you had the landbank (in Ballymun), you might want to reconsider (developing)."
Since building on the Ikea's €20m site kicked off in August 2007, when all still looked rosy, Ikea never got to weigh the option of a recession.
Mr Deakin added, however, that he had "a feeling" Ikea would have ploughed on with the store despite the downturn.
- Laura Noonan
