Nordic furniture rivals spell out their differences

By Chris Tighe
Both are furniture retailers that originated in Scandinavia, with four letter names beginning

in I and ending in A. Ilva, which opens its third UK store today near Gateshead’s MetroCentre, cannot escape comparison with Ikea, its big Nordic rival.
The urge to contrast them is all the stronger because ILVA is the first big furniture specialist to enter the British market since Ikea opened, in Warrington, Cheshire, 19 years ago.