The southeast - The Rough Guide to Sweden - page 207

central hotel, whose compact rooms are cosy, if lacking in
style, and refreshingly free of the staid chain hotel
sameness. No frills, but it's appealing ly inexpensive and
there's always tea and coffee available. 770kr/1050kr
Värend Kungsgatan 27 T 0470 77 67 00,
W hotellvarend.se. Another standard hotel with rather
plain rooms but a warm welcome from the family who own
and run the place, this one also does good-value triple
rooms at 200kr more than the rate for a double. The
respect able prices ma ke this exceptionally good value for
money. 695kr/850kr
Växjö Vandrarhem Evedals Brunn, 6km northeast of
Växjö T 0470 630 70, E [e-mail];
take Linnégatan north, following signs for Evedal, or

bus #1C from Växjö bus station to the end of the route
(June-Aug only). This beautifully maintained STF hostel is
located in an eighteenth-century house in parkland beside
Helgasj ön lake and boasts its own beach. Dorms 260kr ,
doubles 600kr

CAMPING
Evedals Camping Evedals Brunn T 0470 630 34,
W evedalscamping.com; bus #1C comes here in
summer. Located beside Växjö youth hostel at Evedals
Brunn (see above). There's a decent shop for stocking up
on fo od, an d two- person cabins with cooking facilities.
Tents 140kr , cabins 700kr

6

EATING AND DRINKING
Växjö is a good place to try traditional Småland cuisine , which shows the influence of the forests and the poverty
associated with the region; look out, in particular, foristerband , a flavoursome, spicy sausage, and krösamos , mashed
potato with lingonberry sauce.

Bishops Arms Kungsgatan 6 T 0470 276 66. Like
elsewhere in Sweden this fake English pub is attached to
the town's Elite hotel and is an inordinately popular place
for a drink. There are sometimes special After Work deals on
beer - look out for the signs outside. Mon, Tues, Thurs &
Sun 5pm-midnight, Wed 5pm-1am, Fri & Sat
5pm-2am.

Broqvists Kronobergsgatan 14 T 0470 120 20. This
café just off Stortorget may be nothing special to look at,
but it's a Växjö institution nonetheless, as somewhere
locals come to gossip or read the paper while enjoying a
coffee and a slice of cake. Mon-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat
8am-5pm, Sun 9am-7pm.
Gräddhyllan Sandgärdsgatan 19 T 0470 74 04 10.

IKEA
Among Swedish exports, only Volvo and ABBA spring to mind as readily as the furniture store
IKEA , the letters standing for the name of its founder - Ingvar Kamprad (born 1926) - and
his birthplace, Elmaryd, a farm in the Småland parish of Agunnaryd. Outside Sweden, the
identity of IKEA's originator, now one of the world's richest men, is played down, and the firm is
known for simple, modern design lines and prices that appeal to a mass market. Every item of
furniture IKEA produces is assigned a fictional or real Swedish name; the styles of certain items
are drawn from particular areas of the country, and are given a relevant name.
Founded in 1943 at Älmhult, a small town 50km southwest of Växjö, as a mail-order
company, IKEA began producing furniture based on folk designs, which Kamprad had
simplified. In the 1950s, Sweden's existing furniture-makers were su ciently irritated by what
they regarded as an upstart that they tried to pressure IKEA's suppliers into boycotting the
company. Kamprad responded by importing furniture from abroad.
In his 1976 book, Testament of a Furniture Dealer , Kamprad wrote that from the outset, he
wanted to promote “constructive fantasies”: to change the world's view of design, rather than
produce what people already believed they wanted. Having opened in Denmark in 1969, the
company began expanding around the world, though it didn't enter the US market until 1985
or the UK until 1987. In 2006, IKEA opened its most northerly store in the world in Swedish
Haparanda, drawing shoppers from across Lapland.
A number of biographies have been published on Kamprad, one of which ( The History of
IKEA ) was authorized. They have revealed Kamprad's Nazi sympathies during World War II; in
response, he blamed his former political leanings on the folly of youth.
Today, if you pass through Älmhult, you can see the original IKEA store, built in 1958; the
street on which it stands is called, appropriately enough, Ikeagatan. Ironically, IKEA's
headquarters are no longer in Sweden, but Leiden in the Netherlands, and Kamprad himself
has lived in Switzerland since 1976.