TIL What the Acronym IKEA Stands For ...
I had always thought that IKEA was a word that meant something in Swedish, or something like that but no. The name of this Swedish company has a very picturesque origin.
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Well, it all started in 1943 when the father of Ingvar Kamprad, gave him money for having obtained good grades in school. And he decided with that money to found a company, IKEA. Being something rather small and local Ingvar decided to take the initials of his name (I. K.) plus the first letter E of Elmtaryd, a farm where he grew up, near the village Agunnaryd, where he used the A.
And that was it, the beginning of one of the most famous companies for home furniture in the world. Today, 550 million people visit the more than 270 IKEA stores in 44 countries each year.
Having said that, I would like to clarify that I personally am against buying at IKEA.
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First because the indiscriminate use of the wood in all its products that, also, are of very poor quality. It means that they will not last long, dumped wood and that wood comes from somewhere and not from Sweden exactly. I'm pretty sure that most wood used in IKEA products comes from some forest cleared in some "third world" country.
And second because IKEA uses cheap labor (slave labor) to make their products. An example of this was the scandal in the 1980s for paying the Cuban government for prisoners in Cuban jails to work manufacturing IKEA products.
Do you buy IKEA products?
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That's funny, didn't know that about most of the wood is not swedish. At least this explains a bit why al the furniture in Ikea stores in Sweden is about 20 to 25 percent more expensive than in for example the Netherlands where I live. And this information I know from my son who lives in Sweden.
Oh! That I did not knew. Thanks for your comment @smasssh!
I always pronounce it in my head like IKE and EA... Followed and Likes :))
EA from Electronic Arts? :-) Thanks for the comment and the follow @kmaxkmax!
Precisely... Just how my weird brain works
Gamer brain? ;0) Following you back
Of course! Crypto (Finances_ -- Games -- Sports... The wonderful trifecta
I didn't know this about the name 😊 and yes, I think everyone I know has at least 1 piece of Ikea in their homes! Thanks for your insights!
You are welcome @skririm! I also did not knew about it til 2 hours ago ;)
I don't buy ikea I buy in a small company near my house. The price is 25 to 30% more than ikea but I feel better.
Yes @tournego! Always buy local for small handles :) Well done!
When I can like when I buy food I nearly always buy local. I think it's better than having 3000 km of truck transport.
The natural (normal) way is get everything local, this "globalization" is not normal at all...
I have bought at Ikea before. After reading, this is not good.