Record sales rate
Israelis spend Passover vacation in IKEA
Swedish home design stores in Netanya, Rishon Letzion attract 145,000 visitors during holiday causing 80% increase in sales compared with last year
Swedish brands continue to cause hysteria in Israel during Passover. Some 145,000 Israelis made time between touring national parks and nature reserves during the holiday to visit the IKEA branches in Rishon Letzion and Netanya marking an all time sales record, according to data received by Yedioth Ahronoth.
The thousands of visitors caused an 80% increase in sales compared with the previous year. The stores were frequented by 26,000 people on average each day, compared with last year's 15,000.
The busiest day was March 31 during Chol HaMoed (week of Passover) with 30,000 shoppers arriving at the Rishon Letzion branch.
The IKEA restaurants also reached record sales with 16,230 hotdog portions sold during the holiday.
"The Chol HaMoed results reflect the increase we foresaw and consumers' trust in the IKEA brand," IKEA Israel CEO Shlomi Gabay said. According to Gabay, Israelis turned their holiday visit in the stores into a family outing.
