When (some) IKEA furniture was made in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia invested in firm to make products for Dartmouth store
IKEA furniture may be known as the inexpensive stuff you build yourself, but in 1983 the company looked to a local supplier in Nova Scotia for inventory.
As the local Halifax dinner-hour news show 1st Edition reported, the European company had been working out a deal over two years that would have a newly formed company called Parrsboro Woodworking build a furniture factory in Debert, N.S.
"Parrsboro Woodworkers would also develop several furniture lines of its own for sale to major domestic retailers," said CBC reporter John Chesal, who pronounced the company name as I-KAY-A.
The deal was part of IKEA's commitment to the Foreign Investment Review Agency to buy $30-$40 million in goods from Canadian businesses, and would see the company contribute technology and management expertise.
"The factory will make extensive use of robots in production but will employ about 150 people within two years," added Chesal.
... Or maybe not
Three years later, 1st Edition was reporting on another company that would build a factory to supply the IKEA store in Dartmouth. Reporter Lena Sadiwskyj, who also pronounced the store name as I-KAY-A, supplied a refresher on the history of such endeavours.
"A factory called Parrsboro Woodworkers Ltd., in Debert was set up with government aid," Sadiwskyj reminded viewers. "It went bankrupt within six months because IKEA was dissatisfied with Parrsboro's product."
IKEA representative Ray Morin didn't expect that would happen with the new company, Swedwood.
"We assume that they are very familiar with the machinery involved," he said.
The provincial government backed the project to the tune of $5 million — and that didn't sit well with the province's NDP leader, Alexa McDonough.
"We ended up with a fiasco," she said, referring to the Parrsboro plant. "And the government's solution once again is to turn its back on any kind of provincial, local solution, and go after the big multinationals once again."
The Swedwood plant continued to make furniture for IKEA before undergoing a change in its ownership and name to Scanwood in 2004. The company announced it was insolvent in 2011.
