IKEA stores in Denmark can be converted into shelters or temporary hospitals in the event of a power outage, flood or attack on critical infrastructure. Restaurants can provide food, generators can keep buildings running and extra beds can be assembled from flat-packed kits from warehouses, reports “Reuters“.
“We want to be the good neighbor. We want to be the company that can support society in case of a crisis“, says Torben Mortensen, head of security at IKEA's largest store in Denmark.
Business as part of crisis preparedness
IKEA is involved in the Danish Corporate Coalition for Crisis Preparedness. The network brings together more than 200 companies with more than 300,000 employees and describes what resources can be used in an emergency - from beds and food supplies to trucks and specialized personnel.
“IKEA is a very good example because no one would naturally include it in a list of crisis resources. A store has space, goods, food preparation facilities and generators“, says Maya Broles, executive director of the coalition.
She said a state-backed compensation scheme is being prepared, with costs being reimbursed on a case-by-case basis. The voluntary network has already participated in exercises with government authorities, but has not yet faced a large-scale real crisis.
There is also a real example
The idea has already been applied to the floods in Valencia in October 2024, when an IKEA store was used as a shelter for over 600 people. The company specifies that it does not have a global crisis preparedness program and that such arrangements are organized separately in each country.
Other Danish retail chains are also taking measures. Salling Group, the largest supermarket operator in Denmark, is preparing a total of 51 stores designed to operate for up to 48 hours without electricity and internet access.
Similar models are being developed in other European countries. In Estonia, 300 companies are legally obliged to maintain critical services in a crisis, Finland relies on a network of state bodies, NGOs and companies, and in Poland some enterprises must provide vehicles, machinery and property to the armed forces in an emergency.
In Denmark, the interest in preparation is also related to the warnings of intelligence services about a possible increase in hybrid actions against NATO countries and other Western countries. Moscow denies the accusations.
A practical example of using an IKEA store as a shelter can be found in Denmark itself. In December 2021, a snowstorm forced six customers and about two dozen employees to stay overnight at a facility in Aalborg. They slept on exposed beds, and the store reopened the next morning after changing the bed linen.
Sources: news.bg, marketscreener.com