The Swedish furniture giant IKEA opened its Haparanda mall three years ago and since then all local retail statistics have been sky rocketing, according to a study made by the Swedish Retail Institute.
Haparanda has the world’s northernmost IKEA mall and the only within the Barents Region. It attracts customers from all the four Barents countries, although mostly from the nearby cities in northern Sweden and northern Finland. Haparanda is located just on the border to Finland.
In addition to a 840 % increase in sale of consumer durables, everyday shopping for food has gone up with 50 %, reports Radio Sweden.
The town has got 800 new jobs, but so far the new jobs have not made more people moving to Haparanda. The new employees are commuting from the neighboring municipalities.
