10 April 2012

Anyone want to buy DFO?

| johnboy
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dfo

Smart Company has the news that Canberra’s DFO is up for sale.

The DFO outlet in Canberra has been put up for sale by receiver McGrath Nicol as fallout from Austexx and its financial troubles continue to ripple through the industry.

The centre was placed in receivership last month with the Canberra’s Direct Factory Outlet and Homemaker Hub now for sale, with McGrath Nicol receiving expressions of interest.

Janes Lang LaSalle is in charge of the sale process according to the Australian Financial Review.

The development comes after months of legal battles and complicated debt deals, after property developer Austexx was forced to sell off assets as it faced nearly $US1 billion in debt and a possible collapse in 2010.

McGrath Nicol was contacted by SmartCompany this morning but a reply was not available prior to publication.

The Canberra DFO and Homemaker outlets were built in 2008, contain more than 100 fashion tenants, 24 homemaker stores and more than 1,800 car spaces. It is understood that the centre continues to operate as usual.

“I would like to assure tenants, customers and centre management employees that our appointment allows DFO Canberra and Homemaker Hub Complex to continue to operate while we run an orderly sale campaign,” Shane O’Keeffe of McGrath Nicol told the AFR.

Anyone want to set up the world’s most awesome paintball range?

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Golden-Alpine7:00 pm 11 Apr 12

Kerryhemsley said :

Ikea is the Krispy Kreme of furniture retailers in Canberra. Locals get obsessed with a store when it has outlets in Sydney and then when it finally opens up here they drop off.

Didn’t I already say that? Comment #12. I declare copyright infringement, you owe me a donut.

EvanJames said :

GardeningGirl said :

A wall of Billy’s for the family room or spare room appeals to me more than trying to get somebody to come and quote for builtins, and being a European based company that also retails in Europe their versions meet the stricter consumer legislation requirements over there.

True. You can combine those Billys so they look very schmick, and I’d defy a design company to do better, certainly for anything like the price. I have some along a wall doing the step-up thing. I think much of Ikea’s stuff is excellent. Some of it’s weird and bizarre and pointless, but a lot of it is great, and the more of it you have, the better it all goes together.

Yep, I used to have two walls of Billys, too. Unlike the chipboard flat-pack stuff from other stores, the shelves and sides of them didn’t disintegrate and they actually looked very good in the room they were in.

And for the person who thinks IKEA is like Krispy Kreme – there is no comparison: when Krispy Kreme opened in Woden, I thought I’d go and have a look by organising an informal work meeting there. I ordered a coffee and donut per person. I wasn’t expecting anything better from the coffee than it be warm and brown, but I was appalled that the donuts were cold and stale. (Apparently they bake them interstate and trucked them in.).
And this all came to just about $10 a head. *Ludicrous*.

With IKEA, you get what you expect, it’s very well designed (something the average Made In China stuff doesn’t suffer from) and it’s fair to good quality, plus it’s nice and cheap.

Having used 6 different IKEA stores at different times to quickly furnish a house in various parts of the world, it’s pretty obvious to me that an IKEA in Canberra would suit Canberra’s transient population down to a T.

Pffft you don’t go to Ikea for the furniture, you go for the meatballs!

GardeningGirl said :

A wall of Billy’s for the family room or spare room appeals to me more than trying to get somebody to come and quote for builtins, and being a European based company that also retails in Europe their versions meet the stricter consumer legislation requirements over there.

True. You can combine those Billys so they look very schmick, and I’d defy a design company to do better, certainly for anything like the price. I have some along a wall doing the step-up thing. I think much of Ikea’s stuff is excellent. Some of it’s weird and bizarre and pointless, but a lot of it is great, and the more of it you have, the better it all goes together.

grunge_hippy5:00 pm 11 Apr 12

speaking from my teeny tiny shoebox house, IKEA is the shiz.

My only problem with it is you have to have very good spacial awareness and some problem solving skills in order to create what you want for your space. It all looks very nice in the catalogue, but then trying to get all the individual components to make it come to life it quite difficult. There is many parts to a simple cupboard for example.

GardeningGirl4:22 pm 11 Apr 12

HenryBG said :

Well, it’s not stuff I would put in the adult parts of my house, but the stuff from IKEA that has gone into the children’s part of my house was cheap and durable. Much better than similarly cheap stuff purchased from Freedom and similar places here in Canberra.

A wall of Billy’s for the family room or spare room appeals to me more than trying to get somebody to come and quote for builtins, and being a European based company that also retails in Europe their versions meet the stricter consumer legislation requirements over there. In fact their website says “All IKEA products for all markets, globally, shall comply with the chemical restrictions in the EU REACH regulation”. That’s a selling point for me. Unlike the typical response in local stores of shrugging and saying I don’t really understand your question but trust me, I’m sure this fine imported item is okay otherwise we wouldn’t be allowed to sell it . . . . as far as I know . . . . I think . . . . but don’t ask me, I only work here.

Kerryhemsley3:45 pm 11 Apr 12

Ikea is the Krispy Kreme of furniture retailers in Canberra. Locals get obsessed with a store when it has outlets in Sydney and then when it finally opens up here they drop off.

screaming banshee said :

Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea IKEA!!

Pfft……

What about Anarkea?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvz0iLY3Nlw

c_c said :

thehutch said :

Having recently returned from Ulaanbaatar (capital of Mongolia) which has an Ikea, I’d be suprised if the Capital region of Canberra (500,000 odd thousand) couldn’t support an Ikea. Granted that Ulanbaataar has a million people, but I’d suggest Canberrans have more of money to spend… especially with the proportion of residents who come to Canberra for a year who may be looking for Ikea style furniture.

Not everything makes sense in business, like how we’re supposedly moving to a paperless society yet Canberra now has four huge Officeworks stores?

Hahaha true… Computers seem to use more and more paper though

poetix said :

thehutch said :

Having recently returned from Ulaanbaatar (capital of Mongolia)….

Yurt joking, surely?

Lol nice!

arescarti42 said :

HenryBG said :

arescarti42 said :

I’m going to rain on everyone’s parade and suggest that Ikea is an unpleasant maze filled with overpriced, s***ty particle board furniture and generally crap plastic stuff.

This is rubbish.

Yes, the stuff they sell at Ikea sure is.

Well, it’s not stuff I would put in the adult parts of my house, but the stuff from IKEA that has gone into the children’s part of my house was cheap and durable. Much better than similarly cheap stuff purchased from Freedom and similar places here in Canberra.

For me, the problem with IKEA is that it is mostly stuff that’s designed for poor people living in small apartments. So, for example, you can’t get a decent kitchen or dining table there. You do have the choice of chipboard, laminate, and solid wood, but it’s all very light and very small.
Some of their kitchenware is really very good – the baking trays for example are very well designed for my purposes.

I’d say Canberra’s transient population would provide excellent business for IKEA. It would definitely put a few of the other places out of business, though.

HenryBG said :

arescarti42 said :

I’m going to rain on everyone’s parade and suggest that Ikea is an unpleasant maze filled with overpriced, s***ty particle board furniture and generally crap plastic stuff.

This is rubbish.

Yes, the stuff they sell at Ikea sure is.

HenryBG said :

The path through the store is anything but “a maze”: it’s obviously a planned route. What other stores can say the same? People who like shopping, like IKEA, because the layout is designed to ensure the shopper walks past every product.

Normal stores have aisles arranged in a long row. The benefit of this layout is that nuts who want to go up and down each aisle and stare at everything in the store can do so, whilst people who have better things to do with their time can walk in and go straight to the thing they want to buy.

HenryBG said :

As for “overpriced”, I’d say it compares favourably with all the other stores in Canberra selling stuff of similar quality.

That’s because other stores in Canberra selling similar crap are also overpriced.

arescarti42 said :

I’m going to rain on everyone’s parade and suggest that Ikea is an unpleasant maze filled with overpriced, s***ty particle board furniture and generally crap plastic stuff.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

My work here is done.

Cede it to another country, set up an Ebay shop there, and save time and postage by just picking up your high quality, tax free, cheap stuff in Fyshwick?

thehutch said :

Having recently returned from Ulaanbaatar (capital of Mongolia)….

Yurt joking, surely?

thehutch said :

Having recently returned from Ulaanbaatar (capital of Mongolia) which has an Ikea, I’d be suprised if the Capital region of Canberra (500,000 odd thousand) couldn’t support an Ikea. Granted that Ulanbaataar has a million people, but I’d suggest Canberrans have more of money to spend… especially with the proportion of residents who come to Canberra for a year who may be looking for Ikea style furniture.

Not everything makes sense in business, like how we’re supposedly moving to a paperless society yet Canberra now has four huge Officeworks stores?

Skidd Marx said :

That said, IKEA is disposable chipboard crap marketed to braindead soccer mums with My Family stickers on the back of their Toyota Klugers.

rubbish. They’re at Harvey Norman, that’s what it’s for.

Skidd Marx said :

c_c said :

Ikea?

Made in eastern european and asian sweatshops for a company founded by a nazi.
Recently started a sweatshop on US soil to increase US profits.
Offers “Swedish design and quality”: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_AU/recall/recall_antilop.html

I read an article once demonstrating how obscure connections with Nazi’s can be made with just about any established European company. It’s kind’ve like saying we’re all related to monkeys.

That said, IKEA is disposable chipboard crap marketed to braindead soccer mums with My Family stickers on the back of their Toyota Klugers.

And Godwin’s Law kicks in unexpectedly early for a thread about DFO and flat pack furniture.

Having recently returned from Ulaanbaatar (capital of Mongolia) which has an Ikea, I’d be suprised if the Capital region of Canberra (500,000 odd thousand) couldn’t support an Ikea. Granted that Ulanbaataar has a million people, but I’d suggest Canberrans have more of money to spend… especially with the proportion of residents who come to Canberra for a year who may be looking for Ikea style furniture.

Dilandach said :

screaming banshee said :

Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea IKEA!!

Like most things, you buy from Ikea here and you’ll be paying double or more for the exact same thing that someone in the US or Europe pays at Ikea. They’ve certainly got a lot of people suckered.

You’re just angry because you couldn’t figure out how to put together that bookcase you bought from Ikea. You probably filed Lego as well.

c_c said :

Ikea?

Made in eastern european and asian sweatshops for a company founded by a nazi.
Recently started a sweatshop on US soil to increase US profits.
Offers “Swedish design and quality”: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_AU/recall/recall_antilop.html

I read an article once demonstrating how obscure connections with Nazi’s can be made with just about any established European company. It’s kind’ve like saying we’re all related to monkeys.

That said, IKEA is disposable chipboard crap marketed to braindead soccer mums with My Family stickers on the back of their Toyota Klugers.

DJ Mac said :

Sorry people – I wrote to Ikea about 6 months ago asking if they had any plans of opening in the ACT – their response was no because their model for where they place stores is that the store has to have a certain population within 15 minutes – we just don’t have the population density for them to justify opening here.

However I am all for an indoor nerf war or paintball place….

When you apply Ikea’s viability template based on a minimum population within a defined area it should make it easier for a lot of people to understand why international flights to and from Canberra Airport and a very fast train through are not going to become a reality for at least 50 years.

screaming banshee said :

Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea IKEA!!

Like most things, you buy from Ikea here and you’ll be paying double or more for the exact same thing that someone in the US or Europe pays at Ikea. They’ve certainly got a lot of people suckered.

arescarti42 said :

I’m going to rain on everyone’s parade and suggest that Ikea is an unpleasant maze filled with overpriced, s***ty particle board furniture and generally crap plastic stuff.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

arescarti42 said :

I’m going to rain on everyone’s parade and suggest that Ikea is an unpleasant maze filled with overpriced, s***ty particle board furniture and generally crap plastic stuff.

This is rubbish.
The path through the store is anything but “a maze”: it’s obviously a planned route. What other stores can say the same? People who like shopping, like IKEA, because the layout is designed to ensure the shopper walks past every product.

As for “overpriced”, I’d say it compares favourably with all the other stores in Canberra selling stuff of similar quality.

As for your other characterisations, all I can say is that from personal experience, you’re full of it. I have a portion of my house given over to children, and that portion of the house has wooden (yes, wooden, not chipboard) as well as plastic furniture from IKEA which is functional and has proven durable. Some of it is well over 10 years old.

AsparagusSyndrome11:57 pm 10 Apr 12

It’s in Fyshwick right?

So how about they make it into an ENOOOOOORMOUS brothel? Oh, wait…

-1 Ikea.. better to build your own stuff.. and would much be like that doughnut shop.. (can’t remeber is name) and starbucks!

What we need is a nightclub / cheap motel!

$20 plus post

Ikea?

Made in eastern european and asian sweatshops for a company founded by a nazi.
Recently started a sweatshop on US soil to increase US profits.
Offers “Swedish design and quality”: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_AU/recall/recall_antilop.html

Which thinking about it probably makes it somewhat better than whatever currently exists at DFO.

I’m going to rain on everyone’s parade and suggest that Ikea is an unpleasant maze filled with overpriced, s***ty particle board furniture and generally crap plastic stuff.

I have Snow idea who would want to buy DFO, but I’d really love to Snow what kind of money they’d be asking for it.

I can almost say for sure that there is Snow way IKEA will be coming to Canberra anytime soon.

Sorry people – I wrote to Ikea about 6 months ago asking if they had any plans of opening in the ACT – their response was no because their model for where they place stores is that the store has to have a certain population within 15 minutes – we just don’t have the population density for them to justify opening here.

However I am all for an indoor nerf war or paintball place….

Jethro said :

Ikea isn’t that great.

Just saying.

Last time I went to Sydney I had a shopping list prepared by the wife. Just over $3000 worth of built in wardrobes and stuff for an investment apartment renovation. I walked in, played a quick game of “spot the Aussie” (I lost), failed to locate a helpful staff member, looked up items on in store computer which informed me several key components weren’t in stock, examined the quality of said items and decided I didn’t need this shit, and left.
I shall not be going back. It’s just a big hole filled with shonky products. I spent the $3000 on woodworking tools, made the things myself and still have the tools to make whatever else is needed.

Oh god, no Ikea, please… Mrs. thatsnotme already heads to Sydney to visit Ikea at the drop of a hat…if there were one here, I’m pretty sure the kids actually wouldn’t be able to walk through their bedrooms for all the ‘smart storage’ options she’d have crammed in there.

Golden-Alpine8:26 pm 10 Apr 12

I wonder if Ikea would be like Krispy Kreme, we like the exclusivity of having to drive to Sydney for it and show off our purchases to our friends but once they come to town we are all like MEH!

Ikea isn’t that great.

Just saying.

You guys are nuts. We should have an Ikea instead.

silvernitrate8:01 pm 10 Apr 12

another big w would fit in nicely

+ A Million for Ikea

Looking at allhomes.com.au, it seems that a good proportion of Canberra already shop at Ikea. A local one would be even better.

Golden-Alpine7:54 pm 10 Apr 12

I like the idea of indoor paintball!

What about a shopping centre that provides low cost shops and cheap rent to fashion outlets and other retailers to clear out old/damaged stock cheaper than their other stores in traditional malls? Surely that would work?

Maybe Coles, Kmart, Officeworks and a small number of specialty stores??

I know!

Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea IKEA!!

PrinceOfAles7:23 pm 10 Apr 12

Ikeandtina

+1 for Ikea – surely there are enough people here and in surrounding areas to justify one – heck we drive 4 hours to visit the Sydney one, others would do the same if there was one here.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back7:06 pm 10 Apr 12

This is really out there, and will probably be shouted down by the majority, but what about an Ikea?

GardeningGirl said :

screaming banshee said :

Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea IKEA!!

Ikea!

And again!

GardeningGirl6:42 pm 10 Apr 12

screaming banshee said :

Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea IKEA!!

Ikea!

screaming banshee6:09 pm 10 Apr 12

Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea IKEA!!

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