July 2021: Ingka Group news

• New IKEA openings in Prague and Stockholm
• RetourMatras can now recycle all mattresses in the Netherlands
• Ingka Group, H&M, Kingfisher and Walmart join forces in retail alliance 
• The Oracle – a podcast where passionate people discuss global challenges
• The smallest nursery in the world

New IKEA openings in Prague and Stockholm
A new planning studio, the first in Czech Republic, has opened in Prague, focusing on accessibility and convenience for customers in the capital. It’s designed to provide inspiration and its main focus is on kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms, but customers can order any products and services from the full IKEA range. 

In Sweden, IKEA has announced a wide range of new openings in cities around the country. The first one out is a new planning studio in Stockholm, which opened on 14 July. Other locations that have been announced include Gothenburg, Växjö and Lund. 

IKEA now has a range of different smaller store formats, from IKEA small stores to planning studios and shops, all designed to meet customers’ needs.

RetourMatras can now recycle all mattresses in the Netherlands
RetourMatras, a mattress recycling company that Ingka Investments is invested in, has opened their fourth mattress recycling facility in Etten-Leur, the Netherlands. The facility was constructed with the support of RetourMatras’ shareholders; Ingka Investments, Renewi and Ikano Industry. Following its opening, RetourMatras has the capacity to recycle all the 1.5 million mattresses being disposed in the Netherlands on an annual basis.  

“RetourMatras and the Netherlands is a great example of how economically viable mattresses recycling can be achieved. Now we, at Ingka Investments, are exploring how we can roll out mattress recycling to our other European retail markets. Our first focus is on France, Sweden and Switzerland,” says Lukas Visser, Investment Manager, Ingka Group.   

Ingka Group, H&M, Kingfisher and Walmart join forces in retail alliance 
Ingka Group, together with H&M, Kingfisher and Walmart, has launched The Race to Zero Breakthroughs: Retail Campaign, which aims to drive greater climate action in the retail industry in the run up to COP26 and beyond. 

Currently, only 5 percent of retail businesses (by total global industry revenues) have committed to taking action to limit global warming in accordance with the Paris Agreement. The Race to Zero Breakthroughs: Retail Campaign encourages retailers to set science-based targets in line with 1.5°C, halve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and reach net zero GHG emissions before 2050.  

“By working together across trade association partners, this movement seeks to engage the retail sector. If we work together and act with speed, focusing on what makes real impact, we can truly make a difference for people and the planet,” says Jesper Brodin, CEO, Ingka Group. 

The Oracle – a podcast where passionate people discuss global challenges
As a part of the H22 project, IKEA has launched a podcast where passionate people share their visions for how we can meet today’s global challenges.

In the podcast, The Oracle, a wide range of experts, from areas such as architecture, medicine, farming and design, share their point of view on the real problems we are facing. And they tell us why we have reasons to be optimistic.

The smallest nursery in the world
Around the same time that IKEA Netherlands’ lifestage campaign ‘Having a baby’, which is baby, toddler and young parents-focused began, they noticed that there were always birds appearing from the middle of the large yellow “A” in the IKEA sign of their blue box store in Amsterdam.

IKEA Netherlands worked with Studio Mals, who specialise in miniatures, to build the tiny IKEA furniture. Once the tiny nursery was built, it was put into the “A” of the iconic IKEA logo, where it remains today (and is hopefully getting good use from the birds!). 

We may not know for sure if this is the smallest nursery in the world, but I think we can safely say that there’s nothing else like it. And for the birds that live there? They certainly lucked into some great property!