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IKEA fans will no longer have to travel across the causeway to pick up flap-pack furniture and items for the home when the store opens up in Bahrain in 2014.
The popular Swedish retail outlet will be the anchor store in a $100 million (BD37.8 million) new 100,000-square metre shopping mall which will also create 450 jobs.
Located to the north-west of Bahrain Fort, it will be located within the Nurana urban development project near Seef district.
The development by JV Partners is a consortium formed by Al Salam Bank, Siraj Capital and Al Aoun Capital that aims at developing a premium destination mall designed to meet local and regional consumer needs.
Each partner will have an equal stake in the project, which will be funded 30 per cent through equity and 70 per cent by borrowing.The IKEA agreement to anchor the mall was signed by Al Salam Bank chief executive officer and director Yousif Taqi and IKEA Saudi Arabia chairman Dr Ghassan Al Sulaiman in the presence of IKEA's expansion director Ed de Bont.
Dr Al Sulaiman said: "Our franchise relationship with IKEA goes back 29 years and we are proud to be part of its growth in Bahrain and the region," he said.
"IKEA Bahrain will also bring training and job opportunities to Bahrainis and will attract additional large retail offerings to the Bahraini market."
IKEA has been in the GCC region since 1981 through outlets in Kuwait, UAE as well as Saudi Arabia.
