IKEA, the Swedish furniture and interior decorations retailer, which owns a store in northern Bucharest, says it has yet to feel the effects of the financial crisis, but anticipates a change in behaviour on the part of consumers as of next February.
"It will take a while for us to be affected. The crisis is best understood as it is. It does not necessarily have to do with expenses, but with confidence. The confidence of financial institutions in clients; of the clients in financial institutions and of financial institutions in each other," says Cornel Oprisan, retail manager of IKEA Romania.
This September, the store saw its highest sales since opening - 11 million euros, or 10% of the 110 million-euro budgeted for the financial year (September 2008 - August 2009). The company's results in October followed the same trend, so that IKEA could revise its estimates upwards for the entire financial year.
IKEA Romania's boss says that there have not been any changes in costs since the beginning of the year, either. The highest costs incurred by the store in the Baneasa shopping area in northern Bucharest are for transport and for the approximately 500 employees.
The international economic crisis, IKEA officials say, has not affected expansion plans, either, with the initially announced target being six stores over the span of five or six years. For potential locations, they are considering Bucharest, Constanta, Iasi, Galati, Cluj and Timisoara.
"After having gone through a boom period, the real estate market is now waiting to see what happens. They say prices have gone down, but no deals have been made so I cannot say whether it's true or not," Oprisan adds.
The IKEA manager compared the current situation in real estate with that of banks, saying that everybody is waiting for lending terms to relax, but no one has the courage to ta
