Ikea to Shut Down Its Onlybr Furniture Factory in the US Ikea recently announced that they wouldbr be ending production at their plant inbr Danville, Virginia, this coming December. The Swedish furniture company plans on movingbr their operations to Europe in an effort to cut costs. In particular, the cost of raw material is higher inbr the United States than in other countries that alsobr house Ikea plants, such as Poland, Russia and Sweden. Site manager Bert Eades said in a statement thatbr they made “every effort to improve and maintainbr the competitiveness” of the factory. The Danville factory, which first opened in 2008,br currently employs 300 workers to make productsbr such as shelves and storage units on site. The decision is also believed to have been influenced bybr Ikea’s recent shift in retail strategy towards online shopping. Ingka Group, a Swedish company that owns and operatesbr a majority of Ikea stores, revealed in 2018 that they wouldbr be laying off about 5 of their global workforce.