Furniture giant to create 480 Yorkshire jobs

Flatpack furniture specialist Ikea is creating 480 jobs in Sheffield as part of plans for growth across the UK.

The Swedish giant is looking to launch outlets in Sheffield, Exeter and Greenwich in London, creating a total of 1,800 jobs by 2018.

380 of the Sheffield jobs will be in store, with another 100 in a dedicated call centre.

UK boss, Gillian Drakeford, said: “As we continue to expand, we’re delighted to bring investment to new areas across the country and create new opportunities for local communities.

“This year we are celebrating Ikea’s 30th anniversary in the UK, and we are seeing more demand from customers for more stores in areas closer to where they live.”

Ikea completed construction on its 21st store today, in Exeter, where it created 350 jobs.

Gillian Drakeford, Country retail manager for IKEA UK & IE said: “As we mark the construction of our new Exeter store, we’re pleased to announce the creation of over 1,300 new jobs in the UK by the end of 2018.

“As we continue to expand, we’re delighted to bring investment to new areas across the country and create new opportunities for local communities.

“New jobs in our Exeter, Sheffield and Greenwich stores will bring our total number of co-workers in the UK and Ireland to approximately 11,700.”

“This year we are celebrating IKEA’s 30th anniversary in the UK, and we are seeing more demand from customers for more stores in areas closer to where they live.

“We’re pleased that our three new stores opening in 2017 and 2018 will make us more accessible to the many people and continue to offer our inspirational home furnishing solutions at affordable prices.”

In the UK IKEA currently has 19 stores with Sheffield, Exeter and Greenwich bringing the total number of stores to 22 by the end of 2018.

In November 2016, IKEA announced its fifth consecutive year of growth in the UK with annual sales worth £1.72bn – an 8.9% increase on the year before.

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