Eurasia Press & News
Two Swedish brands, the furniture giant Ikea and the retail-clothing company H&M, have confirmed they are opening stores in Belgrade this year and next.Aleksandar Vucic, the Deputy Prime Minister, announced that the popular Swedish furniture company Ikea will be coming to Serbia in April 2014.
“After a long time, the question of Ikea’s arrival in Serbia has been settled,” Vucic said in Belgrade.
Ikea has been trying to open up in Serbia for some years but the company and the Serbian government could not agree on land price and locations.
Ikea initially planned to start building an outlet in Serbia by 2012 in exchange for the provision of cheap land.
The company then allegedly sought to abandon the entire plan. The government then withdrew the land offer, while assuring Ikea that the company was still welcome in Serbia.
The new store in Belgrade will mark the return of the Swedish company to the city. A small Ikea store in Belgrade closed in 1991 as Yugoslavia disintegrated into bloodshed.
Meanwhile, another brand from Sweden, the retail-clothing company H&M, has announced it is opening a store in Serbia this autumn.
“We are excited to be able to offer fashion and quality at the best price to our customers in Serbia from autumn 2013,” Karl-Johan Persson, CEO at H&M, said in January.
The store will be located in Belgrade’s Delta city shopping mall. The brand is known for marketing high fashion at low prices.
