The opening of the first hypermarket of Swedish home furnishings chain IKEA in Bulgaria is one step closer to happening, as Fourlis, the company to develop the chain on the Balkans, told investor.bg that the hypermarket would be opened in Sofia’s Vitosha neighbourhood in the beginning of 2010.

Fourlis announced that it had finalised the purchase of a plot for the first hypermarket of the chain in Bulgaria. The plot was of 60 000 sq m and, as reported in February 2008, worth nearly 12 million euro.

Fourlis has not yet assigned a company to build the hypermarket and refused to comment on whether it would be a Bulgarian or a Greek one. However, if it wants to complete the project on time, it will have to select a company soon, as the construction of the development will take nearly 18 months, Fourlis representatives told investor.bg.

IKEA is planned to have opened two to three hypermarkets in Bulgaria – in Sofia and in Varna and/or Bourgas, investor.bg wrote.