The First IKEA store was opened...when?

Words matter, especially the difference between founding, a showroom and a retail store

By via.tt.se, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Not unlike the date of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone (which I wrote about here), we have conflicting reports on when the first IKEA store was opened.

To wit:

• The 365 Days of History 2025 Desk Calendar claims that the first IKEA store was opened on July 28, 1943.

• Wikipedia claims that IKEA was founded on July 28, 1943 but the first store wasn’t opened until either 1953 or 1958¹.

• Encyclopedia Britannica tells us that the company was founded in 1943, opened a showroom in 1953 with the first retail store opening in 1958.

• The presumably more authoritative IKEA museum’s website states the first store was opened in 1958, suggesting Encyclopedia Britannica’s claim that a showroom was opened in 1953.

The founder, Ingvar Kamprad, dictated a book to Bertil Torekull entitled The IKEA Story, a copy of which can be found on Archive.org. And you can spring for the last paperback copy on Amazon.com which, at the time of this writing, is being sold for $50.01 + $4.99 delivery charge.

1. The article cited on Wikipedia to support the fact of the date of the founding of the company is from the New Yorker (link to archive.org’s copy of the article)