JYSK is back on the expansion track

“The physical store is still very much alive after coronavirus,” says Executive Vice President Retail, Mikael Nielsen.

Growth and expansion has been at the heart of what we do, since our founder Lars Larsen opened his first store in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1979.

And even during the outbreak of coronavirus, we have managed to keep focus on our expansion, despite the fact that retail in a lot of countries has been temporarily closed down.

This also means that we will see lots of store activities in the months to come, which includes planned openings of 18 new stores in June.

“From the beginning of this crisis, it has been important for the management team that we carry through as many new openings and rearrangements as possible, as the crisis does not change our plans for the long term. So far this strategy has been confirmed by the fact that we have had a lot of customers since we reopened our stores, which means that the physical store is still very much alive after coronavirus,” says Executive Vice President Retail, Mikael Nielsen.

Busy months ahead

The planned store openings in June will take place in a lot of different countries across Europe. Mikael Nielsen sees this as a clear signal JYSK has be able to keep focus, despite the difficult conditions during the last couple of months.

“Colleague and Corporate Spirit are two of the central values in JYSK, and as I see it, they have played a big part in making us able to pick up the pace again and continue to open new stores. We have really had to be creative and help each other in new ways to keep our projects running, and we have been able to do that,” says Mikael.

He expects a continuous high activity level during the summer, so JYSK can catch up on as many of the planned store activities as possible.

“We are probably not going to open as many new stores in FY20 as originally planned, and a lot of the openings have not been as big a party as we are used to. However now the aim is to catch up as much as possible in the coming months, and 18 new store openings in June is certainly proof that JYSK is not going to slow down,” says Mikael.