IKEA - It's HUGE!!

Ant

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Feb 1, 2002
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Well I went and stood in line yesterday and I think it was worth the wait. The place is great and I purchased many things (mirrors, plants, dishes, etc.). The prices/quality on some of the furniture is still ridiculous. But they have many more options and things to choose from. The Swedish meatballs were great. But more importantly it was great to see a business do it right. The opening, from what I could see, was a great success.

Good luck, Ikea!
 
Last edited:
May 29, 2006
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Oh right, I forgot they had food there. Pretty cheap and good from what I recall. I think I had Chicken Marsala when I went to one and it was quite nice.
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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amazing place and amazing prices. Seems like business practices will change for better among dominicans businesses.
The place is huge and has everything you would find in Ikeas in usa. I am seriously impressed. European huge chocolate bar = 50 pesos.
Furniture comes in huge selection, something for every taste.
Like I said earlier, Ikea will be a huge hit in DR.
AZB
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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This is a game changer for Santo Domingo.

Just spent 2hrs walking around, eating etc with AZB in the new IKEA.

The place is huge and has some great deals right now.

The larger items are expensive compared to the USA, but the smaller stuff is VERY competitive and much cheaper when you compare to the local market prices.

The fact that they offer guarantees and stand by their product is a huge bonus, plus the variety of products available, I love it!

They have a Swedish mini-mart which is kind of cool and has stuff you cannot get any other place. Pickled Herrings anyone?

Lot's of people buying stuff, Dominicans of all shapes and sizes :)

If your hungry, you can get a hot dog and all the coke you can drink for RD$50, that's cheaper than the street!
 

Goll

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Mar 10, 2009
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Do they buy anything locally or is it all imported? Will probably kill off dozens of companies while 'creating' a few low paid jobs.
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
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Do they buy anything locally or is it all imported? Will probably kill off dozens of companies while 'creating' a few low paid jobs.

Do you really think IKEA will gobble up more than 10% of the rattan market?
They sell many low priced household items to appeal to all classes, many of which are not sold currently in RD. They created more than just a few jobs.

Way to see the glass 1/2 empty, schmuck.
 
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AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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If your hungry, you can get a hot dog and all the coke you can drink for RD$50, that's cheaper than the street!

The coke is all you can drink, self service.
The dasani water bottle is only 15 pesos in the food area. Compare that to the street prices (20 pesos) when you buy a street sandwich from a cart.
 
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Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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Do they buy anything locally or is it all imported? Will probably kill off dozens of companies while 'creating' a few low paid jobs.

Kill off companies!! what companies? The ones who have usually never cared about any form of customer service or retention, not to mention ridiculuos pricing.

If it does kill them off- I say good ridence- finally the Dominican business sector gets a wakeup call.
 
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Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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I have so much dinero en la calle right now that I can't go yet - which is probably for the best because it'll mean the initial fiebre will have died down - but as soon as they pay up there will be no stopping me.

Pib managed to get hold of a catalogue and yesterday we were poring over it like some kind of sacred text. :D
 

Robert

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Jan 2, 1999
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Kill off companies!! what companies? The ones who have usually never cared about any form of customer service or retention, not to mention ridiculuos pricing.

If it does kill them off- I say good ridence- finally the Dominican business sector gets a wakeup call.

My feelings exactly....
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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By the way.
Bye bye badoo and hello Ikea. Jejejejeje.
I think many guys will get this message.
AZB
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
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By the way.
Bye bye badoo and hello Ikea. Jejejejeje.
I think many guys will get this message.
AZB

Why would you advertise this little secret, now you are going to have all The "I am looking for an esposa....not a puta" tourists shopping for muebles in SDQ now!
 
Nov 25, 2008
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Expat13 you hit it on the money, Dominican companies don't know the word "CUSTOMER SERVICE"
Let them all go down under, the quicker we make DR into PR the better
 

amparocorp

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Aug 11, 2002
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only reason IKEA slipped in was that the greedy dominican store owners, (in bed with the politicians for years) didn't know what IKEA was. probably thought it was some swedish meatball custom cabinet shop that wouldn't make any waves or dent in profit. SURPRISE!!....had their name been sears, best buy, target you can bet your last nickel that the families running the major stores in this country would have paid the politicos enough money to create enough obstacles to stop their entry. now if we can get "best buy" to change their name to "used shoes" they might have a shot at slipping in. i'll bet there are a lot of angry rich people tonight and watch for IKEA to be shut down for alll sorts of "violations", smoke detectors, emergency exits, not enough parking, etc. it's going to cost some big stores in SD millions of dollars, good. talk about stealing, at least jesse james had a gun, not a politician keeping competition out................
now watch the other idiots build a "new" mall in SD, (happening now) that won't have a good "anchor " store, so that will be more millions in the toilet.
in a year ask someone from SD if they've been to IKEA, most will reply yes, then ask if they've ever been to malecon center, nope, and it's been there for at least five years....
 

Matilda

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Sep 13, 2006
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Hopefully they have better customer service than they had in London, where Ikea had a name for some good things but appalling customer service. Mind you, appalling in Uk is probably good here!!

matilda
 
May 29, 2006
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With a 30% import tax based on retail price, I don't think it is going to hurt the economy anymore than a franchise US restaurant would. I also bet there will be a lot of business for Dominicans deliverying all over the island or people buying at retail and reselling on the north coast or in other areas with a nice mark-up.

Also any good ideas are quicky copied. Coming soon to the north coast:

dbsk92.jpg
 

Celt202

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May 22, 2004
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only reason IKEA slipped in was that the greedy dominican store owners, (in bed with the politicians for years) didn't know what IKEA was. probably thought it was some swedish meatball custom cabinet shop that wouldn't make any waves or dent in profit......

now watch the other idiots build a "new" mall in SD, (happening now) that won't have a good "anchor " store, so that will be more millions in the toilet.......

in a year ask someone from SD if they've been to IKEA, most will reply yes, then ask if they've ever been to malecon center, nope, and it's been there for at least five years....

The Malec?n Center doesn't even run the air conditionoing in the mall section.

It is a monument to hubris.

My favorite is the Burj Khalifa, that spectacular monument to wretched excess in Dubai.

We live in interesting times. :p
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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With a 30% import tax based on retail price, I don't think it is going to hurt the economy anymore than a franchise US restaurant would. I also bet there will be a lot of business for Dominicans deliverying all over the island or people buying at retail and reselling on the north coast or in other areas with a nice mark-up.

Also any good ideas are quicky copied. Coming soon to the north coast:

dbsk92.jpg

IKEA are promoting their delivery service all over the DR heavily in the store.

If you live in Sosua, they will deliver your IKEA stuff to you within 24/48 hrs based on the weight. Price includes ITBIS.

Sosua - Puerto Plata - Cabarete - Punta Cana
0-150 lb - RD$3,450
151-300 lb - RD$4,800
301-600 lb - RD$5,800
601-1200 lb - RD$7,000

Santiago - La Vega
0-150 lb - RD$2,475
151-300 lb - RD$3,300
301-600 lb - RD$4,000
601-1200 lb - RD$4,900