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"Ikea, known for its inexpensive, assemble-it-yourself furniture, plans to expand into consumer electronics with TVs, wireless sound systems and Blu-ray CD/DVD players next year.\nThe Swedish retailer is working with China-based TCL Multimedia on the venture. The items will begin showing up in Ikea stores in five European cities in June. \"This is a large step for us. We will have an offer that is unique in the market,\" IKEA's living room chief Magnus Bondesson told Reuters. \"We are launching a new concept where you in one place can buy your furniture and your electronics \u2014 designed for and matched with each other from start.\"\nThe initiative aims to solve the problem of clutter caused by power cords and remote controls, Bondesson told the news service.\nPrices for the new items will start at around 6,500 Swedish crowns ($960) for a combination bench unit, TV and sound system. Ikea has so far shied away from selling consumer electronics, but it has sold appliances developed with Whirlpool and Electrolux over the past few years.\nThere are no stated plans about expanding the program in the U.S. The push comes as U.S. retailer Best Buy recently ousted CEO Brian Dunn and announced it would close 50 stores as \"showrooming\" \u2014 consumers' practice of going to the stores to see products and then buying them online from someone else \u2014 hurt sales.\nImage courtesy of Flickr, kimubert"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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