Ikea gets permit to build first department store in Croatia - EUR 100 million for facilities in Zagreb, Split and Rijeka

After a request for issuing a building permit was submitted in late December 2012, head of the Zagreb County, Stjepan Kozic, handed over a decision and a building permit to Ikea Real Estate and Development Director Vladislav Lalic on Thursday, Ikea said in a release.

This permit allows Ikea to build its first department store in Croatia, which will be situated near the eastern exit from Zagreb, in the vicinity of Ivanja Reka in the municipality of Rugvica. When submitting the request for getting a building permit, people at Ikea said that the construction of the first department store in Croatia was expected to commence in the spring 2013.

- Aside from the construction of this department store, another thing that will mark 2013 as far as we are concerned is intensive recruiting of future colleagues. New jobs will be created during the whole year, but especially six months prior to the opening of the department store, when we expect to hire up to 200 workers. The plan is to have the staff of about 350 people at Ikea's department store at the end of the hiring process. Ikea's total investment in Croatia will amount to approximately EUR 100 million. Department stores will also be opened in Split and Rijeka - people at Ikea said on this occasion.

Ikea plans to open 5 department stores in Serbia, worth the total of EUR 250 million. Due to complicated and unclear legal and administrative procedures, Ikea is still in the process of buying a land for its first retail facility in Belgrade, it was announced.