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Counterfeit entire IKEA store (Why Tech went to China)


Komeuppance
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Well I found the reason why Andrew, Technology, went to China... to copy a complete IKEA store:

 

http://i.imgur.com/Ze59d.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/qEwyY.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/Y3U6o.jpg

 

Chinese counterfeit IKEA

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. But Ikea is surely not so happy with China's 11 Furniture store, which replicates the Swedish original with surprising attention to detail.

Just weeks after five fake Apple stores caused a media uproar, a knockoff Ikea store was found in the same city of Kunming, a location now notorious for its large scale counterfeits. 11 Furniture Store takes the crown for taking the artistry of imitation to the next level.

 

The four-story, 10,000-square-meter building copies the original Swedish retailer from the sweeping yellow and blue color scheme to the tiniest details like the stubby pencils. The cozy-looking, Western-style mockup rooms are filled with replicas of Ikea's signature furniture. You can even take a break at the cafeteria, which sports sleek modern furniture. The imitation 11 Furniture's Chinese name "Yi Jia Jia Ju" has the ring of Ikea's full Chinese name, "Shi Yi Jia Ju."

 

Is 11 Furniture taking advantage of unassuming small-town customers? Perhaps not — apparently, some customers who've seen real Ikea stores in Beijing and Shanghai still choose to shop there. And they know exactly what they are getting in for, trading convenience for quality.

 

"I thought of shipping their products from the real Ikea store by cargo, but I thought that would be too troublesome, so I came here," Xiao Lee, a 11 Furniture customer told Reuters. "At the real IKEA, the layout is much neater and the decorations are laid out properly, you really can't compare them."

 

Knockoff designer bags and pirated DVDs are old news in China. The new trend in counterfeiting is to copy an entire brand experience, which is more about the service than the products. The Western originals are scratching their heads over how to handle them.

http://newsfeed.time.../#ixzz1Ty0meVac

 

There's also fake Apple and Nike stores too...

http://blogs.reuters...ke-apple-store/

 

http://birdabroad.wo...ing-steve-jobs/

IMG_6529.JPG

 

-Robert

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That's just amazing and crazy at the same time. Do they like have scouts that go to places to take pictures or do they just "borrow" the archetectual drawings of what ever they copy? or simple hire an ex disgruntel employee of what ever company they rip off?

 

I wonder if there is anything that ripped off companies can do? It's China, they could just say go fly a kite.

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I will say that, as a former mover, Ikea's designs lack quality. They are cheaply made (in china) and fall apart when you move them. People buy HUGE shelving/closet units and assemble them in their apartment and are mysitified and pissed off when it doesn't just move out like their couch or book boxes. Ikea has no inherent quality, other than it's quality appeal to yuppies and hipsters. Now, that being said; I know Chinese peopel love to copy stuff. It's too bad copyright laws aren't more strictly enforced here. And I would not prefer to shop at Ikea, no matter how fun it is to walk through their stores.

 

There are fake Mercedes Benz vehicles here. I am not concerned with items of supposed value in this Eastern land, rather, I am concerned with food. The city I live in has, I swear, the best food in all China. I don't know for sure, but holyh crap it's good. Better than Beijing or Shanghai, and even "smaller" towns like Guilin, which is touristy and at a population of 750,000, not tiny, yet it should be small enough for authentic tasting food. The smaller then town, or the further out in the country you get, the better the food. I learned this on my first tour in 2007, and now it is confirmed. Small town food is off the chart good.

 

Anyway, thanks for the shout out! lol, and I might make a trip to Kunming (pretty far south) to check out the local scenery and cuisine. I'll report back on that after it happens. :D

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And the government definately doesn't control everything here. Richie Rich, at least in my city, government presence is far from noticable when buying stuff is concerned. There is a very strong capitalistic, self-interested mind-set for business people here.
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It's not about lack of government or it's control over people. What kind of mindset does it take for a person to counterfeit food??

 

Take a look at this:

The pursuit of profit in China has reached a new low. Fake food, fake drugs and dangerous industrial ingredients are rife in Chinese food processing. Thousands of dogs are dead after Chinese pet food ingredients proved deadly. Hundreds sickened in Panama. Plastic rice? U.S. official are said to be applying pressure to the Chinese government to crackdown on offenders and raise food processing standards.

 

It all makes growing and buying local foods seem a good deal safer.

Let's review the reasons to be cautious about foods imported from China.

Dead dogs

Chinese firms mixed melamine into wheat flour to articicially boost protein tests. The New York Times reports that up to 4,000 dogs died as a result of the contamination. Check to see where the ingredients in your pet food come from.

 

Plastic rice

A report from Natural News citing sources from Weekly Hong Kong and Very Vietnam reports that Chinese manufacturers are using a blend of sweet potato, potatoes and plastic resin to make fake rice, essentially selling plastic as food. "A Chinese Restaurant Association official said that eating three bowls of this fake rice would be like eating one plastic bag."

 

Fake pharmaceuticals

Science Daily reports that countries all over the world are cracking down after China executed a top official for approving fake medicines. The New York times reports that 100 people in Panama died from using medication containing antifreeze that was sold as a pharmaceutical syrup base.

 

Poison bean sprouts

MSNBC.com reports: "The Legal Daily newspaper said in an online report that police in Shenyang had seized 40 tons of bean sprouts treated with the chemical compounds sodium nitrite (a known carcinogen) and urea, as well as antibiotics and a plant hormone called 6-benzyladenine." Legal Daily says the problem has been going on for "years." Twelve people were arrested.

http://communities.c...astic-rice.aspx

 

-Robert

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I don't know where I saw a report of fake food coming from China. But they used card board in the food as a filler for meat. Among other really disgusting things.

 

That's the disturbing part about imported foods. You have no clue, non as to what is in the food. I try to buy food from stores that buy from local growers/ providers. But it gets hard to do that and expensive at times.

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I will say that, as a former mover, Ikea's designs lack quality. They are cheaply made (in china) and fall apart when you move them. People buy HUGE shelving/closet units and assemble them in their apartment and are mysitified and pissed off when it doesn't just move out like their couch or book boxes. Ikea has no inherent quality, other than it's quality appeal to yuppies and hipsters. Now, that being said; I know Chinese peopel love to copy stuff. It's too bad copyright laws aren't more strictly enforced here. And I would not prefer to shop at Ikea, no matter how fun it is to walk through their stores.

 

There are fake Mercedes Benz vehicles here. I am not concerned with items of supposed value in this Eastern land, rather, I am concerned with food. The city I live in has, I swear, the best food in all China. I don't know for sure, but holyh crap it's good. Better than Beijing or Shanghai, and even "smaller" towns like Guilin, which is touristy and at a population of 750,000, not tiny, yet it should be small enough for authentic tasting food. The smaller then town, or the further out in the country you get, the better the food. I learned this on my first tour in 2007, and now it is confirmed. Small town food is off the chart good.

 

Anyway, thanks for the shout out! lol, and I might make a trip to Kunming (pretty far south) to check out the local scenery and cuisine. I'll report back on that after it happens. :D

 

 

msg much?

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"Like so many others I had become a slave, to the Ikea nesting instict..."

 

"I had it all, even the glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections, proof that they were crafted by the honest, simple , hardworking indigenous peoples of, wherever...

We use to read pornogaphy,

now it was the horchow collection..."

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msg much?

I don't knock MSG any more.

I had some kind of parisite in my gut and MSG kicked it's "expedited deleted"

(true story)

 

 

 

I've seen some quallity imports from china, the only problem is they'll take the profits and turn them around to make something identical but cheaper, to make more money...

sort of like a contest to see who can out do who,

or maybe it's just flat out greed.

Edited by Metric-man
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And the government definately doesn't control everything here. Richie Rich, at least in my city, government presence is far from noticable when buying stuff is concerned. There is a very strong capitalistic, self-interested mind-set for business people here.

That's nice to hear. Hopefully, that attitude will spread to the Chinese mainstream.

I was reading an article a couple years ago about how the government controls the manufacturing companies.

The article said the factory they were touring appeared to be owned or run by individual The supposed owner allowed the group access to a certain area and some government officials showed up and escorted them out along with the supposed owner.

 

China is a communist government, so capitalism is pretty much a polar opposite.

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whats the diff, you walk into Walmart and buy a Sony tv that isn't realy a Sony tv , a weaver scope for your rifle that isn't realy a weaver scope , and the only thing in the store made in the USA is the babys in the store carts

 

why is this well sony makes a knock off of their own tv's just for walmart,, same with weaver scopes,,they don't warranty them nor reconize them as being their products and same goes for 90% of every thing else in the store

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