Ikea in Rishon

March 23, 2009 - 8:38 PM by

ikea-rishonThe Ikea franchise in Israel has won a major or minor victory, depending on how you look at it. After three years of a heated legal battle between the Ikea franchise owners in Israel and more than 200 furniture purveyors in Rishon Lezion — Israel’s fourth-largest city — a second branch of the Swedish furniture chain will be built in the seaside city of Rishon, but without an adjacent shopping center, which was what the city’s storeowners had feared.

According to the Ha’aretz account of the settlement, the furniture store owners are less fearful of the Ikea branch itself, and more nervous about the planned 30,000-square-meter shopping center that was supposed to accompany the 323,000 square-meter Ikea. Personally, I’m surprised they’re not more nervous about Ikea; the Netanya store is one of the chain’s most successful ever, with more than 16 million visitors since it opened eight years ago.

Rishon, in case you didn’t know, has become something of a shopping destination. I was somewhat aware of this, but became more aware last week when my sister and I took an outing in order to shop at the city’s branch of Eden Teva Market, without having to schlep out to Netanya. Yes, I know, it may seem strange to head all the way to Rishon from Jerusalem (about a 45-minute drive, longer, if you don’t have good directions) for food shopping. But when the store in question is Israel’s answer to Whole Foods, some of us travel far and wide.

And now, it seems, we won’t have to head as far as Netanya any longer for our Billy bookshelves and Poang armchairs. As for those in northern Israel, it seems there are plans to open a third store in the Galilee within three years. So thanks to all the Rishon Lezion furniture store owners and to Ikea Israel for settling; now I’ll have an additional stop to make in Rishon when I head out there for sulphur-free dried fruits, spelt breads and other natural goodies.

Tags: , , , , • Category: Business, design, General 

Comments

4 Comments on Ikea in Rishon

  1. Harry on Tue, Mar 24th 2009 8:24 PM

    2. Any idea if the Teva Eden Market in Rishon is as nice as the one in Netanya? I went to the one in Or Yehuda and it was tiny and crappy.

  2. Karin on Wed, Mar 25th 2009 8:17 AM

    3. I think IKEA needs more regulation in Israel. In such a small country, there is no need for this culture-rotting chain store to crop up in every suburb from Eilat to the Lebanese border. I don’t see this as a victory at all. Slowly, slowly Israel’s small nagariot will be replaced by Big Box shops and everyone and his brother will have the same lousy, cheap low quality crap that IKEA produces to make a middle class person feel as though they’ve arrived.

    Mind you, I do enjoy going to IKEA myself once and a while for cheap basics.

  3. Jessica on Wed, Mar 25th 2009 11:57 AM

    4. it’s nice, not as nice as poleg.

  4. Jessica on Fri, Mar 27th 2009 8:07 AM

    5. i know what you mean, karin. i’m a lover and supporter of locally-made goods, and truth to tell, tend to rely on that more when i’m shopping locally. (Except when i have to buy the crap at Ace or HomeCenter.) but on the other hand, sometimes it’s satisfying to have that western world shopping experience, even if it is just ikea.

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