We're not facing flat-pack wars

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Oct 31, 2006

Byline: By Nick Whitten

The boss of a new multi-million-pound furniture store has denied Tyneside is about to witness a flat-pack war.

Danish furniture giant ILVA opens at Gateshead's MetroCentre on Thursday, just 100 yards from Swedish rival IKEA.

The two giants will go head-to-head in a battle to be the North East's most popular furniture store.

ILVA is Denmark's number-two store, IKEA Sweden's number-one.

Both offer ranges of furnishings for every room in the house, each with a distinct Scandinavian influence.

Even the two cafAs compete with their national delicacies ( IKEA has its Swedish meatballs, ILVA its Danish pastries.

But ILVA's chief operating officer, Colin Haggerty, argues that the two are not about to lock horns in a war.

He said: "It will not be a war at all. ILVA and IKEA are complimentary to each other.

"The most overwhelming feedback we get from people who walk through our doors is that they say we're nothing like IKEA. They stop drawing the comparison.

"Only 15% of our products are flat-pack. We're much more focused on furniture; they put more focus on accessories. Kitchens are their biggest department, but we do not sell kitchens.

"Our biggest department is sofas. We have more than 40,000 sq ft devoted to that."

Mr Haggerty added: "Our emphasis is on very high quality furniture, built properly, at affordable prices."

ILVA bosses have spent millions converting the M&S Lifestore, which had opened in February 2004, but closed its doors for good less than a year later after sales were well below target.

The ILVA store has created 350 jobs and it offers more than 10,000 home furnishings ideas ( thought to be the largest range available under one roof anywhere in the UK. The range of items, showcased under more than 5,000 lights, features an eclectic mix of living, sleeping, dining furniture and accessories. More than 70% of the product range will be ILVA exclusive and the range will be refreshed twice per year. The store will open with a full Christmas range.

Bosses are making a strong commitment to raising standards of service in terms of delivery times. They say the store is served by over one million sq ft of warehousing space in Doncaster and Hull, which means shoppers can receive delivery of sofas in five days.

But the 15,000 sq ft collection centre on site will also make thousands of items immediately available.