Shanghai Ikea vs. other place?
 

My daughter is planning on buying furniture (small pieces) at Ikea (Shanghai); is this really the best option, vs. buying local? (Wouldn't it be much more expensive there?)
Any recommendations?

Tell her to join a tour group to get some great deals. ;):p:D

I've only bought a desk and bed in China, so take my advice with a grain of salt...

There are some really high-end furniture malls. There are also super cheap furniture back-alleys. I think IKEA fits in the middle pretty nicely. I don't know what you mean by small pieces, but if it's just an end table and you don't care much about looks, then you can get a decent collapsable wooden table from a local vendor for ~40 kuai (that's Chengdu price, don't know about Shanghai).

"Tell her to join a tour group to get some great deals."

I would, except she doesn't need anything that's mother-of-pearl inlaid rococo bombe front! (With dragons! And 40 coats of lacquer! Honest!)

Actually, I was just wondering if there's have the equivalent of a mid-range chain, or maybe a flea-market style shopping area. The only shopping I did was at a knock-off mall (robe, purse, and baseball cap), and the police were out in force "trying to stop" the hucksters offering their shop cards and brochures on the street (maybe because of the Expo?).

We really like 'qumei' -- scandinavian designers, but somewhat higher end. They have a range of prices -- from the ikea range and up and up. They are a chain, so I'm sure they have branches in shanghai.

If shanghai is anything like beijing, there are hundreds of options. Including locally made, non-grotesque, furniture. Your daughter has been in shanghai for quite a while now, so I'm sure she probably already knows of lots of options if she has spent time with non-studenty types: both expat and chinese.

tb

Most of the IKEA furniture available globally is manufactured by Chinese and Russian subcontractors and their subcontractors in turn.

There is a large professional furniture trade show coming up in Shanghai from September 11th to 14th and many others this Autumn, Winter and coming Spring all over China. Maybe the OP's daughter could attend one of those for information gathering purposes?

http://www.fordaq.com/fordaq/TradeSh...try=285&pgNr=1

Not knowing your daughter's situation clearly, please take this with a grain of salt.

How long is she planning to stay in China? Or is it semi permanent? How much money does she want to spend?

Each time my wife and I move to a new country and we plan to stay only a couple of years, then we have "made do" with IKEA. It is standardized so it is easy to purchase and ship and throw away after we are done with it.

If she wants to go cheap, check the expat sites. Many move and sell stuff to get rid of it. Or most districts in the city has areas that sell new/used furniture that is cheap.

I had a customer service spat with Ikea in Shanghai 10 years ago that I still haven't quite overcome (ordered a couch, it was delivered, I decided I didn't like it, and those guys wouldn't take it back because I didn't have the box... guess who did?), but I am still forced to admit that those guys should figure prominently in any decoration strategy for short-medium term visitors. Even if you just buy things like wooden horses, random wall hangings, shower curtains, and the like, a small amount of money spent there adds a great deal of color.

Something to note about the Chinese consumer furniture market is that it is crowded on both the low and high ends, but there isn't much in the middle.

This year, I've had the "privilege" of helping two friends do furniture shopping here in Beijing. The first was responsible for outfitting his parent's new 4-bedroom apartment in a Hebei province city 4 hours away, for their own occupancy. We toured the very high end, low end, Ikea, middling stuff. In the end bought about 2/3 of the major pieces at Qumei (QM) and had it shipped down. And about 1/3 (for the minor rooms like study and kid's room) at Ikea, and also had it shipped. I am not a fan of Ikea but sometimes it fits the bill if you don't need investment grade stuff. I'm sure Shanghai is like Beijing and has an even lower-priced furniture area that does knock-offs of Ikea for less (and equally decent quality). But I don't know the specifics of the Shanghai shopping scene.

For the other friend, she had purchased a big studio apartment in a popular, upscale Beijing complex for rental purposes. We ended up getting bed, wardrobe, living room TV stand/display unit, and desk at Ikea. Then other pieces such as folding shoji divider, small couch, easy chair, tea tables, etc. off of Taobao.com. Had it all delivered and assembled.

Taobao has an amazing array of stuff for reasonable price, just be careful of the shipping/delivery charge before purchasing. Some merchants are very reasonable and others charge a lot.

I agree with moondog that in China, the furniture scene tends to be barbell-shaped--very high end (usually imported) and lower end (including Ikea) but little in the middle that you'd want to buy to keep and ship home.

For medium and lower end domestic furniture, the giant Suzhou Likou furniture market (1,1 million square meters of showrooms) is the easiest spot to gather insights.

It's located in the Xiangcheng district between Suzhou Main and Suzhou North HSR stations on Xiangcheng Avenue. So easy access also from Shanghai. This is the furniture retail centre for all of Eastern China. And yes, I could be called a furniture professional.

Shanghai Mart has a large, permanent furniture section, as well. However, I haven't found many treasures there (stuff that's made of actual hardwood tends to be imported in some way, shape, or form --> expensive).

Thanks very much for all the suggestions; I've passed them along.
She's pretty busy, and this is her first solo place to furnish; perhaps that is why Ikea was her fallback.
But (if she has the time and energy), she can pinch a yuan 'til it bleeds; hope she can visit some of the places. :)

She should definitely keep an eye on expat forums and mailing lists. A lot of movement happens in the summer and into early fall and even now you could have expats who have arrived and found themselves with too much furniture looking to unload things.