IKEA to shut Norwegian in-town stores

OSLO: Furniture retailer IKEA will shut three city centre stores in Norway as part of a drive to cut costs amid declining profits, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Known as service and pick-up points, the stores in Oslo, Aalesund and Tromsoe were opened in 2015 and 2016 in a global pilot programme to test customers’ appetite for alternatives to IKEA’s large out-of-town warehouses. IKEA now plans to cut costs in Norway by some 10 per cent to help boost profits, although employees at the three sites being shut were offered jobs at its other stores, the company added. — Reuters