With Apple advertising for staff in its first store in Canberra and Zara hotly rumoured to be opening somewhere in Civic, all we need to make our big retail chain dreams come true is our very own Swedish furniture megastore full of flatpacks and meatballs in lingonberry sauce.
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Demand for Ikea goods in Canberra is high enough to keep a business called Bringithome hauling three tonnes of flatpacks and other goodies here by truck each month.
Founders Michael Cerne and Loyzek Cervek, in their quest to hook up local Ikea addicts with their fix, have made more than 60 round trips from Canberra to the Homebush Bay store. They take orders and pocket a fee that is 30 per cent of the price of the desired items.
The success of this business hinges on the fact Cerne and Cervek figure it's unlikely Canberra will get an Ikea of its own, given its small population.
Still, there are plenty of orders, mostly from Canberra's inner south and inner city areas, from units and townhouses and from newer suburbs.
For some local Ikea fanatics, there's no need to dispatch someone to pick up flatpacks, as shopping at Ikea is a joy for them.
About 90 per cent of Todd and Rachel Wright's furniture is from Ikea, all of it bought in the last five years or so to the tune of about $24,000.
"We definitely are junkies," Todd says. "If it improves your life, if it makes you feel good ... yeah, go for it."
And there's no need to follow flatpack instructions to the letter. The Ikea Hackers online community is full of those who "hack" their goods, which is to say in their refusal to conform to the picture on the box, they come up with something creative and new: legs are added to legless furniture; Roy Lichtenstein-style comics are decoupaged onto tables, and, in a manner that would do MacGyver proud, clever types do things like turn wooden pots into pinhole cameras.
Which shops would you like to see in Canberra? Maybe Brit-cool fashion chain Topshop?
