Remember back in 2008 when RMA considerations stopped an IKEA from opening up in Wellington? They would have been too popular, ruled the RMA boffins - the traffic would have been too bad to let them open. One wonders how much lobbying by Ikea's crappy NZ overpriced furniture competitors was involved. As a side note: if you're moving to NZ, fill up whatever space is left in your shipping container with IKEA flat packs, then sell them here on TradeMe for double the price.
Anyway, Susan suggests an excellent idea. If Gerry Brownlee is a one-man zoning-and-regulation-overruling machine, let's get an IKEA for Christchurch. Stuff the RMA processes where IKEA competitors wail and moan about lost amenity value or increased congestion. Now's the time to do it.
Lots of us need to buy new stuff due to quake damage. Gerry could designate a pile of land around the airport as being some new business development zone such that farmers could easily sell out to folks wanting to put the land to higher valued uses. It's in the shadow of flight paths, so they've not wanted to allow it for subdivisions. An IKEA would fit in just nicely.
Gerry, make it so. I'm hungry for some meatballs with lingenberries. Please tell IKEA that no red tape stands in their way if they want to open in Christchurch in the next year.
IKEA: if you've any kind of Google Alerts on your name and Gerry doesn't get in touch, and if you were still at all interested in a New Zealand location, now's the time to move. Please? Please!
Susan gets the credit on this one - her excellent idea.
