Business | Part of the furniture

The boss of IKEA on dealing with the fallout of the covid crisis

The Swedish giant tries not to let a crisis go to waste

Shop ‘til you drop
|BERLIN

IKEA IS KNOWN all over the world as the biggest furniture retailer, the most successful Swedish brand—and the cause of family quarrels over the assembly of BILLY bookshelves or HEMNES wardrobes. It has so far never made a name for itself as a place of worship. But on May 24th the car park of an IKEA shop in Wetzlar, a city in Germany, welcomed hundreds of Muslims for a Sunday prayer to mark the end of Ramadan, against the backdrop of the blue-and-yellow storefront. It was a nice gesture in times of social distancing.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Part of the furniture”

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