Showing 1-23 of 23 results
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Auckland Fish Market
No self-respecting harbour city would be without a fish market and Auckland is no exception. Alive with sights, smells and boisterous early-morning auction action, it also has plenty of retailers and a cooking school. Open all week, it has a great range of foodstuffs from the sea and elsewhere.
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Buana Satu
Fun souvenirs, like kitschy tea towels or chilli-pepper fairy lights, mix in with more traditional ones such as woven flax bags and baskets, and jewellery. Clothing, tin toys and leis make other great baggable options.
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Champions of the World
Pick up a hat, T-shirt, key ring or tie from the Kiwi sporting code of Rugby Union. Only problem is, official merchandise comes in one colour: All Blacks. Great retro one-day cricket gear worn by the Black Caps is also available for any budding Ewan Chatfields.
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Children's Bookshop
This sprawling shop has shelves chock-a-block with stories, adventures and sneakily educative titles. The excellent NZ section stocks supreme children's authors such as Margaret Mahy and Pamela Allen, as well as Maori myths. Helpful staff can help you choose a book to suit your toddler to your young adult.
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Fingers
This gallery-cum-shop is a treasure trove of precious things designed and crafted by around 50 local jewellers. Individual pieces may reference nature, NZ icons and identity. Materials used include precious metals, shells, fabrics, stone and found objects. Fingers has been around for over 30 years, and hosts regular solo and group shows.
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Hailwood
Ladies and gentlemen no longer have to pick through other boutiques' racks looking for local designer Adrian Hailwood's smart and playful pieces; they're all consolidated here in his own-label store. (Even he's here, working out the back.) Expect his and hers shirts and jumpers made from divine silk or velvet fabrics with a juvenile-retro woodland print, or classic '50s cuts in Western fabrics.
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Illicit
If you're looking for a lasting memento of your trip to Auckland, have an icon etched into your skin at the well-regarded Illicit tattoo studio. If going home with a volcano on your bicep seems too over the top, it does piercing too: specialising in ear stretching, large-gauge and genital jewellery.
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Kaf Kids
Pint-sized designer clothes in boho styles for little dahling girls and boys. T-shirts, tops, jackets and dresses, plus hats and accessories are all imagined and made locally from durable pre-shrunk cottons.
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Karen Walker
One of NZ's internationally coveted designers, Karen Walker's casual pieces give a nod both ways: to streetwear and to tailoring. Something of an empire, her name is now on everything from '70s-style sunglasses through to house paints.
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Little Brother
One for the fellows, Little Brother stocks its own line of street-smart streetwear that's understated tucked-and-tailored. Designs are consciously created and made in NZ. Also in store, look for T-shirts emblazoned by iconic music label Flying Nun, and miniature Little Brother pieces for boys (aged one to eight) under the Little Shit label.
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Marbecks
This long-established music supplier stocks all genres, including NZ-made and children's (such as Baby Jazz, and albums by 'Bratz', NZ's number-one selling doll). Staff's can-do attitude can help with classics, country and hip-hop too.
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Misery
She started on the street, spraying twisted cutesy motifs about town. Then Misery's work moved in to galleries (fetching around NZ$2500 ) and grew to her own boutique. The paintings are still for sale, but are now surrounded by a range of bags, shirts, hoodies, T-shirts and small smalls - all inimitably Misery.
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Native Agent
Classy crafts include handmade heirlooms referencing Maori and colonial history - Native Agent's specialty. Pick up a unique quilt or jewellery piece, puzzle or picture designed by local artist Rona Ngahuia Osborne and friends. Embroidered shirts and linens are unique and gorgeous.
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Otara Market
Punters flock to Otara market before sun up, to feast on its Polynesian atmosphere and South Pacific food. A sprawl of other stalls sell music, fashions, and fruit and veg. It's a great place to find authentic flax-ware, Tees and jewellery, without the city price tags.
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Pauanesia
This colourful little shop stocks souvenirs and gifts with Polynesian style. Easy-to-carry-home exotic items include carved paua shells, handmade paper products and kete (flax-woven bags and basketware).
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Royal Jewellery Studio
Royal presents a vast array of the country's finest ornamentation. From traditional pounamu pieces imbued with karakia (Maori incantations and prayers) from artists such as Te Kaha to Joanna Campbell's pieces referencing dressmaking. The studio is housed in the fittingly dramatic Deco building of the former Royal Theatre.
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Takapuna Market
This hive of Sunday-morning activity sees locals buzzing around stalls laden with fruit and vegetables, bibs and bobs, plants and flowers, and prepared foods. Make a day of it: dining at a nearby café and heading down to the beach or along the two-hour Takapuna-Milford Heritage Walk, which passes a fossilized forest.
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The Hive of Activity
Every variety of game and toy is guaranteed by friendly staff who have road-tested the lot. This colourful shop is stocked full of little plastic farm animals, board games, dress-ups and other fun things like Slinky and Silly Putty.
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Unity Books
Well-stocked shelves contain books from every genre, but Unity specialises in locally published works and the cream of international imports. Check out the 'staff recommendations' shelves, with hand-written reviews.
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Victoria Park Market
Victoria Park Market, a 20min walk west of Queen St, has a huge variety of goods including clothes, pottery, leather work, handicrafts and so on. Just the spot to spend the afternoon searching for that perfect kiwi t-shirt, tiki keyring or lambswool ruggie. Get a cheap massage after all that shopping and chill out in one of the cafes. Cheap massages are also available, and there's live entertainment on weekends.
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Whitcoulls
Your run-of-the-mill big bookshop, Whitcoulls is where you can anonymously flick through magazines, and scan the shelves for self-help titles, airport reads and a selection of NZ literature.
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Wunderkammer
High-end imports, such as Costume National mix in with locally designed accessories and the occasional stuffed animal. Personable and idiosyncratic, Wunderkammer is an experience, not just a shop.
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Zambesi
Hands-down the most influential and interesting fashion label to come out of New Zealand. Zambesi's twisted classics are strikingly unique and crafted to last. Zambesi pieces are highly prized internationally too. There are two other stores in Auckland, in the city centre (cnr Vulcan Lane & O'Connell St) and Newmarket.
Showing 1-23 of 23 results
