IKEA IS to make up to 21 workers redundant at its Belfast store amid reports of falling sales. In a statement the company said that “as a result of a recent operational review”, the company is consulting with 30 workers from Ikea Belfast, a process which will result in up to 21 redundancies.

The confirmation of the job losses follows speculation in recent months that the Belfast store has been adversely affected by the opening of an Ikea store in Dublin last year.

While the company declined to comment yesterday on the status of its Dublin shop, there have been reports that sales at Ikea Belfast may have fallen by more than a third in the past year as shoppers from the Republic decided to shop in the Ballymun branch rather than travel to Belfast.

However, it is also understood that a drop in local consumer demand contributed to the decision.

Ikea opened its first store in Ireland in December 2007 at the Holywood Exchange outside Belfast.

The Belfast store immediately attracted a surge of customers from across the Border, with Bus Éireann introducing a coach service between Dublin and the Ikea store in Belfast to facilitate shoppers from the Republic.

The phrase “Ikea effect” also entered the lexicon, signifying the phenomenon of Irish consumers going North to shop.

Ikea’s Dublin store opened in July 2009 in Ballymun, following a lengthy delay due to upgrade works on the M50.

Less than a month later the Swedish furnishing giant announced that it was to hire 100 extra temporary staff to help it handle the volume of customers visiting the store which had exceeded expectations.

Last month, The Irish Timesreported that prices at Ikea Dublin were 9 per cent higher than their UK equivalents.

Ikea has 301 stores in 36 countries worldwide. In June 2009 it announced 5,000 job losses globally.