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In two years furniture sales in Greece have been halved, and the turnover of the sector fell by more than one billion euros. According to the National Statistics office the furniture market has felt the first serious downturn in late 2009, when sales fell by one third. Then the local economic crisis caused the final blow and as a result, many of them operate today at a loss and it is a matter of time to declare bankruptcy. Besides the known financial problems, the furniture market profile changed in recent years due to the strong presence of companies such as IKEA. They turned furniture purchase from long-term investment in a fashion in which the apartment refreshed with new property available in good quality as well. 

30-40 years ago in Greece furniture business was a family activity and imports of such goods was unpopular practice. Resorted to foreign furniture were only the most affluent and pretentious, who wanted something more exotic and not practical, say Greeks who remember the good old times. Local production was covering almost a hundred percent of the domestic market and local furniture manufacturers were pride of the owners. 

However times change and like many other sectors in Greece, furniture manufacturers began to lose ground to imported goods of the same type, which provide the same or better quality but are more affordable. With the opening of trade relations with Europe in the late 70s of last century and a good financial liquidity, the average Greek began to seek new solutions. Italian design comes into fashion, which proved decisive for the market reform, until Greece faced the final stage of the debt crisis and the complete loss of competitiveness over other European manufacturers. 

An example of the decline in produced Greek furniture shows the data of SATO company, which in 2010 showed a decline in turnover. Before taxes and fee damages are for over 2.2 million euros, which is much less than 2009 when the company recorded a loss of only 577,000 euros. Things look even more serious in the first half of 2011 and the trends are that the year will end with a serious loss. SATO is filed under surveillance after the losses in 2010, which proved to be more than 30 percent the owned equity. The company had immediately undertaken a capital increase, but unfortunately the market conditions are not suggesting recent stabilization. 

Despite the great interest of consumers, a decline is seen in IKEA’s turnover of 7.6% or 67 million euros. The investment of the popular Fourlis family proved successful and the profit before taxes was 2.1 million euros, although reduced compared to the previous reporting period when it was 6.6 million euros. Earnings of the store were reduced not only because of the decline in sales, but also because of the development of the last store in Yanena and the construction of first Bulgarian IKEA in Sofia.