The presence of the fake stores in Kunming highlights China's seemingly insatiable appetite for western brands in some consumer segments that have not been tapped, particularly in smaller cities far from the affluent eastern seaboard.

China's fake Apple store Click on thumbnail to view (Photos: http://birdabroad.wordpress.com)

"What these fake stores indicate is that there is demand for the types of products and concepts that these brands sell," said Hong Kong-based Torsten Stocker, a China retail analyst with Monitor Group.

The problem for companies that have been faked is that even if the fake stores sell genuine products, the brands have no control over how customers experience their brands.

Zhang Yunping, 22, a customer service representative at 11 Furniture, is used to the questions about Ikea.

"If two people are wearing the same clothes, you are bound to say that one copied the other," Zhang said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Customers have told me we look like Ikea. But for me that's not my problem. I just look after customers' welfare. Things like copyrights, that is for the big bosses to manage," she said.

11 Furniture's owner could not be reached for comment.

Ikea said it has teams working at both the country and global level to handle intellectual property protection issues.

"Ikea as one of the biggest home furnishing companies in the world, protecting Ikea's intellectual property rights is crucial," Ikea China said in a statement to Reuters.

At 11 Furniture - its Chinese name "Shi Yi Jia Ju" sounds very much like Ikea's Chinese name "Yi Jia Jia Ju" - furniture is made to order, not flat-packed as it is at Ikea.

Customers also notice other differences.

Ikea has nine stores in China, most of them in the wealthier coastal and southern cities. Xiao Lee, a Kunming resident who was shopping at 11 Furniture for a bedroom wardrobe with her husband, had visited Ikea stores in Beijing and Shanghai.

"I thought of shipping their products from the real Ikea store by cargo, but I thought that would be too troublesome so I came here," Lee said.

"At the real Ikea, the layout is much neater and the decorations are laid out properly, you really can't compare them," she said.