BEIJING, April 12 (Xinhua) -- IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer, announced the opening of a new store on Wednesday in Beijing, the world's second largest IKEA store.

    On Monday, IKEA China closed its old store in Beijing which had been in operation for seven years.

    For the world's leading home appliances and furnishings chain retailer, the new store is its second biggest one around the world, following just the Stockholm shop in Sweden.

    The Swedish furniture company has highlighted its new Beijing store in Siyuanqiao on its Chinese-language website, voicing its goals targeting the rapid-growing Chinese market.

    The new building is located beside the Fourth Ring Road in northeastern Beijing. The old store was next to the heavily congested northern section of the Third Ring Road.

    According to IKEA China, with an investment of over 100 million U.S. dollars, the new Beijing store covers 107,723 square meters. It provides customers with around 7,000 items of products.

    IKEA has built three floors of underground parking areas with more than 1,500 free parking lots in its new Beijing store.

    Since it first entered China in 1998, IKEA has opened three stores in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

    Sources from IKEA China said that China provides wide room for its business growth and China also becomes the largest purchase market for IKEA. About 18 percent of IKEA's purchasing materials are from China.

    Currently, 80 percent products selling in IKEA's Chinese stores are made in China.

    Having opened 231 shops in 33 countries and regions, IKEA got 14.8 billion Euro of total global turnover in 2005. Enditem