ILVA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ILVA is a furniture store founded in Denmark in 1974.
The company opened its first overseas store in Malmö, Sweden and in 2006 it opened three UK stores (in Manchester, Thurrock and Gateshead). A store at the Planet Ice Arena beside Milton Keynes Central railway station has received planning permission.[2]
The internationalisation of ILVA reverses the common trend of retail internationalisation offered by literature. ILVA, rather than making acquisitions of other stores, was acquired by Martin Toogood in 2003, with a view to internationalise into the UK. Martin Toogood believed that there was a gap in the UK middle market of furniture retailing.
It plans to open stores close to existing IKEA stores in order to boost their customer base. (the store in Gateshead almost uses the same car park as the existing Ikea)
In July 2007 the Daily Telegraph reported that the company had run up losses of 11.5 million GBP [1]
The store was sold to the Icelandic furniture group Rúmfatalagerinn in August 2007 [2] but in January 2008 was still losing 2.33GBP for every £1 taken[3]
In March/April 2008 their Manchester store was attacked by thugs firing ball bearings, there was two separate attacks which cost the business £10,000 due to the size of the windows which had been attacked[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Issue Number 47,318 (24th July 2007) pB3 [1]
- ^ Daily Telegraph Issue N0. 47,326 Thursday 2nd August 2007
- ^ Sunday Telegraph Issue N0. 2,431 Thursday 14th January 2008
- ^ Attacks Cost Store £10,000 - News - Manchester Evening News. Manchester Evening News (10 April 2008).
