Ikea to Shut Down Its Only Furniture Factory in the US Ikea recently announced that they would be ending production at their plant in Danville, Virginia, this coming December. The Swedish furniture company plans on moving their operations to Europe in an effort to cut costs. In particular, the cost of raw material is higher in the United States than in other countries that also house Ikea plants, such as Poland, Russia and Sweden. Site manager Bert Eades said in a statement that they made “every effort to improve and maintain the competitiveness” of the factory. The Danville factory, which first opened in 2008, currently employs 300 workers to make products such as shelves and storage units on site. The decision is also believed to have been influenced by Ikea’s recent shift in retail strategy towards online shopping. Ingka Group, a Swedish company that owns and operates a majority of Ikea stores, revealed in 2018 that they would be laying off about 5% of their global workforce.
