The world's first IKEA second-hand shop is opening in Sweden this autumn, selling only used and refurbished IKEA furniture.
The second-hand shop will sit inside ReTuna, the world's first second-hand shopping centre, which is dedicated to selling only reused, organic or sustainably produced products.
The new store will bring damaged furniture and decorative items from nearby branches, repair and restore them, and resell them at a fraction of the original price.
The chain already offers furniture with minor production defects or transport damage in most of its department stores, but this will mark the first store to solely focus on repairing and recycling used items.
The concept store is a pilot project that will be regularly evaluated and adapted.
The ReTuna shopping mall is located in the town of Eskilstuna in the greater Stockholm region, and conveniently sits right next to the local recycling station. The eco shopping centre has gained international acclaim since opening five years ago as it exclusively sells products that have been reused, are organic or sustainably produced.
Working with ReTuna also gives IKEA the possibility to better understand why certain IKEA products turn into waste, what condition they are in when discarded, how people reason when deciding to throw away our products, and if there’s an interest in buying the products if they manage to salvage them.
The new store concept is the latest initiative to help the Swedish retailer with its sustainability ambition of becoming a fully circular business by 2030.
Last year IKEA introduced a furniture rental project, enabling customers to rent furniture as part of its circular model.
The Swedish company had previously announced that it would start renting and recycling its furniture around the world, anxious to respond to criticism that its affordable, flat-pack business model leads to overconsumption and waste.
This new second-hand store concept takes IKEA one step closer to its goal of becoming a circular business model.
In ten years, all IKEA products will be produced using only renewable or recycled material, designed to be reused, resold or recycled.
"If we are going to reach our sustainability goals we need to challenge ourselves and test our ideas in practice," says Jonas Carlehed, sustainability director for IKEA in Sweden. By 2030, the retailer wants to reduce its impact on the climate by 70% and the company also aims to use only renewable or recycled materials.
“At IKEA we don’t want to merely be a part of the sustainability movement – we want to lead it. If we want to reach our sustainability goals, we have to challenge ourselves and test our ideas. The climate crisis cannot be solved in theory, it has to be solved in practice,” he continued.
