IKEA brings Swedish design to Daegu this month

IKEA, the global home furnishings company, is set to expand its presence in southeastern Korea this month with the opening of its first store in Daegu on September 17. Located within the downtown Shinsegae department store near Dongdaegu Station, the 1,000-square-meter outlet will be the largest city-center-format store in IKEA Korea's history and its first in the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region.

This new store builds upon IKEA's previous city-center locations, including a previous store in Lotte Department Store's Gwangju branch, which opened in November, and a store at Hyundai Premium Outlet's Songdo location, which launched in July. In a shift from its earlier approach of establishing standalone big-box stores on city outskirts, IKEA aims to offer a more localized shopping experience.

The Daegu store will feature showrooms, home-furnishing consultation, and space-planning services, with a particular focus on storage and space-saving solutions tailored to the region's apartment-heavy housing. Additionally, a market within the store will sell Swedish food and snacks exclusive to IKEA locations.

IKEA's decision to open a store in Daegu comes after a successful 10-month pop-up store it operated previously. The company cites this as a reason for its timely expansion into the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region.