The new 24,000 m2 IKEA store is to open earlier than expected this March at a cost to the Swedish company of around €200 million.
IKEA Loulé's newly appointed manager, Abdelhak Ayadi, today confirmed the date today and commented, "With the opening of IKEA Loulé, we will be even closer to our customers in the south of the country and will help contribute to the dynamism of the region."
The shopping centre on the retail site, Mar Shopping Algarve, is still being worked on and the plan is to open this sometime in the summer.
This is IKEA’s fifth location in Portugal, with the company on track to be operating ten stores in the country by 2025.
This IKEA store has been designed to be as eco-friendly as possible with €1 million worth of photovoltaic panels supplying much of the energy needed to run the two-storey shop, some small comfort to the environmental lobby which unsuccessfully sought to keep the site as scrubland alongside the Via do Infante motorway at the Faro junction.
Abdelhak Ayadi has worked for IKEA for 25 years and lastly was running an IKEA in Italy before moving to Portugal.
In November last year, Herman Gewert was announced as the managing director of MAR Shopping, also owned by the Swedish company, “It’s a special challenge,” Gewert said of his new job, “It’s an honour to be part of such an important project for IKEA Centres in Portugal.”
