IKEA-Inspired Furniture Chain ‘Swed House’ Opens Its First Store In Russia
An alternate world of surrogate brands bubbles in Russia as it deals with boycotts from internationally-recognized companies. On the heels of the openings of McDonald’s, Starbucks, LEGO, and even Gucci copycats, a Belarusian furniture store is hoping to fill in the shoe racks of IKEA.
Swed House, as the brand is called, has opened its first store in Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. The new Moscow branch stocks some IKEA products, but with its logo stamped on products and packaging, and it aims to pacify shoppers’ withdrawals from the Swedish retailer after the latter halted retail and production in Russia.
The Swed House wordmark is splashed in yellow and blue, and is embellished with furniture-themed iconography. It also uses a font reminiscent of the text on IKEA signage and catalogs.
With that said, Swed House isn’t a 100% substitute for the furniture giant. For one, the new store doesn’t bear the maze-like layout that IKEA is known for.
And while staff members are dressed in yellow uniforms, their outfits don’t sport the equally quintessential blue—possibly to distance the brand from IKEA trademarks and, more importantly, the Ukrainian flag.
Swed House’s general director Mamedali Kasymov clarifies with Reuters that the Belarusian company is “not IKEA,” as it has own-brand products, though it does “aim to be like IKEA.”
Kasymov estimates that up to one-fifth of Swed House’s offerings are original IKEA items. However, he justifies that Swed House goods are “in big demand” too.
YouTuber Travelling with Russell, who shared a tour of the store on its grand opening, noted that several Swed House products supposedly come from the same manufacturers who made IKEA’s goods in Russia.
According to a report by the International Business Times, the Russian government approved the sale of IKEA’s factories to local business owners, allowing the production of similar products to continue inland.
As seen in the video, the location looks markedly smaller than a single story of an IKEA store.
The travel vlogger was amused to learn that Swed House has brought the famous shark toy, BLÅHAJ, back to Russia.
Per Reuters, the opening was met with mixed responses from visitors. While some were pleased that the store might help fill a gap left by the home solutions behemoth, others complained that the branch was too small to compare with an IKEA. Its lack of space meant there were no showrooms or allowance for testing beds.
— Yasmina (@yasminalombaert) April 15, 2023
One customer named Iohann noticed that products at Swed House were stacked on top of each other, which isn’t a standard at IKEA and makes it harder to remove items from shelves.
Swed House intends to open five stores in Moscow, before expanding across the country next year.
[via Reuters and International Business Times, images via various sources]
