Wouldn’t this be fantastic in Stockholm?
Everyone knows the name Ikea. This Swedish company has stores almost everywhere, from the UK to Australia, Spain, and Mexico. Houses around the world are filled with flatpack furniture, picked from the shelves of this Swedish superstore. [Featured photos: @ReTunaEskilstuna]
However, Ikea aspires to more than just selling furniture, because the company sees that buying new products instead of re-using products is not sustainable for the planet. They have, therefore, had the bright idea of creating second-hand superstores, at which customers can buy pre-loved furniture at a reduced price, and the first of these stores has just been opened in Eskilstuna, west of Stockholm.
This groundbreaking new store is located in the ReTuna Återbruksgalleria department store, and it’s as large as the usual, sprawling Ikea stores but it is, after all, a new initiative. Furniture is given to the store and then refurbished so that it can be placed on the shop floor and sold at about 50% of the original price.
It’s a fantastic initiative, given the environmental challenges we are facing, and Ikea aims to be climate positive by 2030. Plus, it seems to fit with modern life well. Us city-folk move from apartment to apartment, often disposing of furniture that won’t fit in our new place, and during the pandemic increasing numbers of people have tried to make their homes more comfortable as more people have been working from home. So, it makes perfect sense to us to buy second-hand furniture instead of simply buying new.