Why don't we have the benefit of all the chain stores, all be it smaller ones in the Isle of Man?

Question

No TJ Hughes, No Ikea, No Retail Trading Parks? No Weatherspoons, No Pizza Hut........, know we are only a small island but smaller outlets would be OK, ?

Answer 1

It's not worth their while, dealing with a whole different legislation, for such a small market.

Answer 2

Probably because the stock would have to be shipped there by boat or plane and it's too expensive to do that.

You might also find that the planning laws make it very difficult; if the large chains did open up it would cause a lot of local retailers to go out of business, so the planning committees or however they do it on the IOM prevent it by not granting permission to open stores.  I would guess that the people who run the IOM are business people, so it's in their interests most of all to prevent it.

To be honest not having Pizza Hut and Wetherspoons is s blessing, you should be grateful :)  I bet you've got far better italian restaurants and pubs than those two.

Answer 3

No market.....

Companies will only invest where they think they can make lots of cash. Especially with Ikea there is no point in them opening smaller stores because they need to exhibit the whole range.

You're not alone - even quite big towns don't have an Ikea.

Answer 4

Presumably they would not be profitable or cost effective for the stores you mention.  All you have really is M&S in Douglas.  Beautiful as the Isle of Man undoubtedly is, it must be hard living there if you want the big stores, and worse if you need to fly to the mainland to connecting holiday flights. Very expensive!