IKEA Appoints Mike Baker as Manager of Future Brooklyn Store On Track to Open Summer...

IKEA Appoints Mike Baker as Manager of Future Brooklyn Store On Track to Open Summer 2008 as 1st IKEA Location in New York City

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.--(Business Wire)--
IKEA, the world's leading home furnishings retailer, today
announced the appointment of Mike Baker as store manager for its
future Brooklyn store opening Summer 2008 in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It
will be the Swedish company's 1st store in New York City, 4th in the
NY-NJ area, and 35th in the U.S. Until the 346,000-square-foot future
IKEA Brooklyn opens, customers can shop at IKEA stores in Elizabeth,
NJ; Hicksville, NY; and Paramus, NJ; or at www.IKEA-USA.com.

"We are very excited about opening our first store in New York
City, where there are many existing IKEA customers, as well as new
customers, who are anxious for us to open," said IKEA North America
president Pernille Lopez. "Mike's experience as a store manager and
knowledge of the unique IKEA concept and retail operations have
prepared him for managing this store in Brooklyn."

"I look forward to bringing the unique IKEA family-friendly
shopping experience and wide selection of stylish, functional and
affordable home furnishings closer to customers in the New York City
area," Baker said. "This store will offer our Brooklyn customers the
opportunity to shop at IKEA as often as they would like, so I am
pleased about providing them with a store of their own."

A Canadian who has relocated to Brooklyn, Baker joined IKEA in
June 1994 as a marketplace sales manager at the Toronto-area store in
North York, Ontario after serving as store manager for two other
Canadian chains and two additional U.S. retailers. In 1996, he was
appointed showroom manager, and the next year spent several months in
China building-up IKEA Shanghai before returning to Toronto. In 1998,
he joined the team expanding IKEA Burlington, the 2nd Toronto-area
IKEA store. Then, in 2001, he helped lead the effort to open IKEA
Etobicoke, the 3rd Toronto-area IKEA store, where he served as store
manager until becoming store manager of IKEA Brooklyn.

Under construction on 22 acres along the Erie Basin waterfront in
Red Hook, south of the BQE/Gowanus Expressway and southeast of the
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, IKEA Brooklyn will present 50 different room
settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children's play
area, and a 450-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as
meatballs with lingonberries or salmon plates, as well as American
dishes. Other family-friendly features include a 'Children's IKEA'
area in the showroom, baby care rooms, preferred parking and play
areas throughout the store. IKEA Brooklyn also will offer home
delivery, kitchen installation and design consultation services. The
project includes a 6.5-acre public waterfront esplanade and many
transit options such as ferry service from lower Manhattan, a bus stop
for the B61 and B77 lines and shuttles to nearby subways stations.

When IKEA Brooklyn opens this summer, 500 coworkers will join the
IKEA family. Candidates interested in working at this employer of
choice should look online (www.IKEA-USA.com) for these diverse
opportunities available at the future IKEA Brooklyn: home furnishings
sales, interior decoration, customer service, safety and security,
cashiers, maintenance, goods flow, receiving, warehouse and stock
replenishment. Also, setting itself apart from other retailers, IKEA
Brooklyn will offer - among the 500 total positions to be hired for
the store - approximately 80 food service opportunities in its
Restaurant, Swedish Foodmarket, Cafe Bistro and coworker cafeteria.

There currently are more than 270 IKEA stores in 36 countries,
including 33 in the U.S., where other new stores will open in:
Charlotte, NC; Somerville, MA; Tampa, FL; and West Chester, OH. Since
its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered a wide range of home
furnishings and accessories of good design and function, at low prices
so the majority of the people can afford them. IKEA has been ranked in
FORTUNE's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list (three years in
a row), Working Mother magazine's annual list of "100 Best Companies
for Working Mothers" (four years in a row) and Training magazine's
annual "Top 100" ranking of companies that excel at human capital
development (five years in a row). IKEA incorporates environmentally
friendly and socially responsible efforts into day-to-day business,
and continually supports initiatives that benefit causes such as
children and the environment. For more information about IKEA, and
about working at IKEA, please go to www.IKEA-USA.com.

IKEA, Conshohocken
Joseph Roth, Expansion Public Affairs
610-834-0180 x6500

Copyright Business Wire 2008