IKEA Timeline :
1926 - IKEA history starts here in Almhut, Sweden, where founder Ingvar Kamprad is born.
1930's - Ingvar Kamprad starts his first business venture. His Aunt helps him buy matches (100 boxes for 88 ore) He sells them for 2-5 ore a piece.
1943 - 17 year old Ingvar Kamprad registers his firm, IKEA. The I standing for Ingvar, the K for Kamprad, the E for Elmtaryd (family farm name) and A for Agunnaryd (the name of the village)
1946 - "Wholesale Ballpoint Pens" the very first IKEA ad. Written by the founder himself.
1948 - The first IKEA warehouse is a small shed built by Ingvar on the family farm. Early in the morning, the milk van came to pick up goods and take them to them train station, and from there they went to the customers, until one day the milk van changed route.
1948 -"IKEA News" a typical mail order stencil from the end of the forties selling this years "ballpoint pen sensation"
1948 - Stylish, modern furniture is introduced to the IKEA range.
1949 - For the first time IKEA speaks to the many people - to the ones on the farms. This mail order stencil is sent as an insert in the Swedish farmers gazette in 285,000 copies.
1950 - A spread from IKEA news says "it's the key to good purchases" and gives an overview of the range.
1951 - The first IKEA catalogue is distributed. Then, as now, free of charge.
1951 - The perfect armchair to sit in whilst knitting, RUT is introduced.
1953 - Albin Lagerblad's furniture in Almhut was bought and converted into the first showroom. This was as a solution to a problem. IKEA, being a mail order company needed a showroom where customers could compare quality, function and prices.
1955 - IKEA starts to design its own furniture. The commitment to provide functional, well-designed home furnishings at prices so low that most people can afford them begins.
1956 - Our first self-assembly product, LOVET appears in the IKEA catalogue.
1956 - Self -assembly furniture is now part of the IKEA concept. Flat packages = reduced transport and less damages = lower prices.
1957 - In the 1950's, IKEA exhibits and sells products at home furnishing fairs.
1958 - The very first IKEA store opens in Almhut, Sweden.
1960 - The first restaurant opens in the IKEA store in Almhut, Sweden.
1961 - The first non-scandanavian supplier is based in Poland. The first delivery is made up of 20,000 chairs.
1963 - The first IKEA store outside Sweden opens in Norway.
1964 - In the 60's people turned their noses up at oak. It was dark, heavy, old-fashioned and expensive. But IKEA launched modern oak furniture in a lighter colour and style, so it was thumbs up instead.
1964 - Sweden's leading home furnishing magazine publishes a price and quality comparison and furnishes five living rooms with furniture from five retailers. The result is sensational. They find that IKEA offers "well-designed, well-made furniture at remarkably low prices"
1965 - The first IKEA store in Stockholm opens. The design of the store is influenced by the Guggenheim Art Museum in New York. At the time, it was the largest home furnishing store in Europe.
1965 - The new IKE store in Stockholm was a great success with long queues at the checkout and the merchandise pick up areas. Co-workers couldn't keep up. The self serve was tested in the lighting shop and later applied to furniture.
1968 - IKEA enters the computer age and acquires an IBM computer with an impressive 64KB's of memory.
1970 - Fire in the Stockholm store! The following sale attracted lots of customers.
1973 - IKEA brings particleboard from the construction industry to the drawing boards of the furniture designers. By now, it has become the material in many furniture bestsellers in lacquer as well as veneer.
1973 - TAJT, a multifunctional set/recliner, is one of many good examples of how IKEA sometimes does things differently. By using a low cost raw material from another industry, in this case denim, a hard-wearing and low priced product is created.
1973 - The very first IKEA store outside Scandinavia opens in Spreitenbach, Switzerland.
1974 - The first IKEA store in Germany opens in Eching, just outside Munchen.
1975 - In the 70'2 pine becomes expensive in Sweden. However IKEA continues to provide good quality, Scandinavian designed furniture at low prices by purchasing knotty pine from Poland and Czechoslovakia.
1975 - The baby boom and new attitudes towards consumers leads to the development of easy to care for furniture. One result is the wide-scale use of removable, washable sofa covers.
1976 - Ingvar Kamprad and his family moves to Denmark. To support the managers in Almhult he writes a Furniture Dealer's Testament and a little Dictionary, our first manual.
1979 - The Billy Bookcase is born.
1980 - MARKNADEN, a new department is introduced. It later evolves into Home Organisation.
1980 - The KLIPPAN sofa with removable, washable covers is introduced. Both children and parents quickly discover the benefits with Klippan.
1980 - IKEA introduces new children's furniture and toys.
1984 - "Swedish tradition" or "New Classics", was built on strict, simple lines and be quintessentially Swedish. The result was the STOCKHOLM collection. It won the prestigious "Excellent Swedish Design Award".
1985 - A new department, IKEA at work, is launched. We offered a special catalogue and services aimed at small businesses.
1988 - We developed a complete range of paint, wallpaper, flooring and tools for the handyman at home and launched it as IKEA WORKSHOP.
1991 - Swedwood becomes part of the IKEA group. This helps develop low price capacities and increase our production competence.
1993- IKEA: 50 year anniversary!
1994 - The IKEA food and beverages concept is documented in the manual food services the IKEA way.
1995 - The IKEA PS series allows designers free reign to shape the latest creations. The low prices, however, are set with a firm hand.
1997 - The PS collection is launched in the catalogue as a complete collection.
1997 - Children's IKEA is launched.
1997 - IKEA opens in a place where no one lives - the internet.
