LittleGreyCat

I remember being told all sorts of stuff in the mid-late 1980s when we first looked at emigrating, including that you shouldn't bring your white goods with you because they "wouldn't work" and TVs and stuff weren't worth bringing and that cars weren't worth bringing because road salt in the UK made them worthless in NZ and..........

Basically they wanted you to pay a premium for locally sourced goods to prop up local manufacturing. Mind you, there were some amazing vehicles on the road kept running because of the lack of imports.

Things have moved on, thankfully, but yet again there is an indication that in a global economy with rock bottom shipping prices a local manufacturer has to work extra hard to compete with any global firm.

We have a lot of Ikea stuff just because the quality for the price is outstanding. As long as you carefully pick out what you buy.

I think Ikea in NZ would be an enormous boost to some local industries by establishing a price and quality point for them to aim at. It would also weed out those who are coasting because they have a captive market. I can't see the downside of good quality well designed cheap furniture, myself.