EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Markets and Companies

A year ago, IKEA's spokesman told Äripäev that their group has no plans to open their store in Estonia or Latvia but admitted that they can reach the Lithuanian market in 3-4 years. Now it is clear that construction of an IKEA store starts near Vilnius airport next spring.

After expanding to Lithuania, IKEA is now more willing to expand to Estonia and Latvia too, not directly at the initiative of the IKEA group but two Icelandic retail trade businessmen, brothers Sigurdur and Jon Palmason, who develop also the IKEA store in Vilnius that will be opened next year.

Spokeswoman of the Palmasons, Hanna Gustafsson confirmed to Äripäev that the businessmen intend to enter the Estonian and Latvian markets. "Once the Lithuanian store has been successfully launched, the next step is to open stores in neighbouring states Latvia and Estonia," she said.