The city of Kunming, nestled in the Yunnan Province in Southwest China, has garnered a lot of media attention of late for its impressively deceptive lineup of fake Apple stores. Now Sky News brings word that the country's knockoff-retail industry has a footing within the home sphere in the shape of 11 Furniture. From the blue-and-yellow shopping bags, massive 10,000-square-foot layout, and cafeteria (that sells not meatballs but "Chinese-style braised minced pork and eggs") to room vignettes, rocking chair designs, and stack of pencils made available to roving customers, everything about 11 Furniture screams Ikea. Meanwhile, nine actual Ikea stores exist in China and "protecting Ikea's intellectual property rights is crucial," according to a company rep. About the brouhaha, one unaffiliated branding expert has this to say: "What we are seeing with the Apple and the IKEA stores is that they are 'lookie-likies', they are not actually fakes." Additionally, flat-pack furniture, that which essentially defines the Swedish chain, is nowhere to be found. Still, the news report on the Chinese copycat is absolutely worth watching. One word for these guys: cajones!
Video: China's Fake Ikea:
· There Are at Least Three Fake Apple Stores in Kunming, China [Racked National]
· Ikea added to fake-shops list in China [YouTube]
· LookallIKEA: 'Fake' Furniture Store in China [Sky via Racked National]
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