The company imports any IKEA product directly to South Africa, by collecting orders from customers, and then importing the orders once a month by container load. The company is not affiliated to IKEA; it simply shops on behalf of consumers and imports the products to South Africa. By combining orders from various customers, it is able to do this in an affordable, secure and efficient manner.
"We were on holiday in Cape Town in December 2011 and wanted to do shopping in IKEA, but were surprised to find out that there wasn't an IKEA store in South Africa," says owner [name has been removed due to change of ownership] of Nevada Furniture. "After living overseas for 20 years, we decided to move back to South Africa and start importing IKEA."
IKEA does not have any plans to open an outlet in South Africa. Its current expansion plans are focused on India, South East Asia and Eastern Europe because of the favourable economic conditions and growth. It was also mentioned during the franchise discussions between IKEA and Nevada Furniture that South Africa is too far away from the IKEA production lines. It prefers to be close to these lines, especially from a quality control perspective.
For more information, go to www.nevadafurniture.co.za or order anything from the international IKEA UK website. Room settings are on display at showrooms in Montague Gardens, Cape Town or Midrand, Johannesburg.
[UPDATE - 29 March 2017: The business is being sold and, as of 1 May 2017, will be under new ownership and new management. There are also no showrooms in Midrand or Montague Gardens anymore.]
