page_title: IKEA
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: IKEA / History
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Hans Ax (vänster, left) och Invar Kapmrad vid IKEA Kungens kurva English: Hans Ax (left), IKEA's first store manager, shakes hands with IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad
context_page_description: IKEA is a Swedish multinational group situated in the Netherlands that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories, among other useful goods and occasionally home services. Founded in Sweden in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been the world's largest furniture retailer since 2008. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of January 2018, Kamprad was the eighth richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$58.7 billion. The company's name is an acronym that consists of the founder's initials, and those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born, and the nearby village Agunnaryd.
  The company is known for its modernist designs for various types of appliances and furniture, and its interior design work is often associated with an eco-friendly simplicity. In addition, the firm is known for its attention to cost control, operational details, and continuous product development that allowed IKEA to lower its prices by an average of two to three percent.
context_section_description: In 1943, Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA as a mail-order sales business, but began to sell furniture five years later. The first store was opened in Älmhult, Småland, in 1958, under the name Möbel-IKÉA (Möbel means "furniture" in Swedish). The first stores outside Sweden were opened in Norway (1963) and Denmark (1969). The stores spread to other parts of Europe in the 1970s, with the first store outside Scandinavia opening in Switzerland (1973), followed by West Germany (1974).
  In 1973,  the company's West German executives accidentally opened a store in Konstanz instead of Koblenz. Later that decade, stores opened in other parts of the world, such as Japan (1974), Australia, Canada, Hong Kong (1975), and Singapore (1978). IKEA further expanded in the 1980s, opening stores in countries such as France and Spain (1981), Belgium (1984), the United States (1985), the United Kingdom (1987), and Italy (1989). Germany, with 53 stores, is IKEA's biggest market, followed by the United States, with 51 stores. The first IKEA store in Latin America opened on 17 February 2010 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
caption: Late IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad (right) shakes hands with Hans Ax, IKEA's first store manager in 1965
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