SPAIN – IKEA arrived in Spain 20 years ago and to celebrate it, the company open for the first time in the country two pop up shops in the center of Madrid and Barcelona, the two cities where it first settled in the peninsula in 1996.

SWEDEN – For FY2016, IKEA Group total sales amounted to EUR 34.2 billion (USD 37.6 billion), increasing by 7.1% against the previous year. Adjusted for currency impact, total sales increased by +7.9% and same store sales (sss) grew by 4.8%.

U.S. – This fall, Lowe’s will introduce LoweBot in 11 stores throughout the San Francisco Bay area. LoweBot is a NAVii™ autonomous retail service robot developed by Fellow Robots. LoweBot will roll out in phases over a seven-month period beginning in September in San Jose, California, and will further explore how robots can meet the needs of both customers and employees.

U.S. – The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, reported sales of USD 26.5 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2016, a 6.6 percent increase from the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Comparable store sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 were positive 4.7 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 5.4 percent.

U.S. – Ace Hardware Corporation, the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world, reported second quarter 2016 revenues of USD 1.4 billion, an increase of USD 8.7 million or 0.6 percent from the second quarter of 2015. 

PERU – At the end of the second quarter of 2016, sales of home improvement chain Maestro, a subsidiary of Sodimac (the home improvement chain of Chile’s Falabella Group), amounted to 657,7 million soles, representing a decrease of 2.6% compared to the same period of 2015. 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – On July 11, executives of IKEA and Caucedo Logistics Center (CLC) celebrated the start of construction of the new IKEA regional logistics operations building, strategically located in the facilities of Port Caucedo.

MEXICO – El Puerto de Liverpool, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Liverpool”) informed the market have that it signed on July 5th an Association Agreement with holding companies of Ripley Corp SA (“the Company”).

MEXICO- After the memorandum of understanding subscribed in April, SACI Falabella and Organización Soriana signed on July 8th the definitive contracts, materializing the partnership that will enable them to jointly develop the home improvement (Sodimac) and financial services (CMR) businesses in Mexico. 

COLOMBIA – In an interview with Portfolio, Cousin Aynes, commercial franchise manager for Central America, South America and Africa of the French Gautier, said that the furniture manufacturer company plans to develop its brand in Latin America, and will begin to do so by the franchise system in Colombia and Mexico.

U.S. – IKEA U.S. announced on June 8th the results of the third annual IKEA Life at Home Report, which explores the life at home of people all over the world. 

CHILE – Consolidated revenues for the Falabella Group in the first quarter of 2016 reached USD 3,066 million, which represents 4.9% growth compared to the same period last year.