Everything you need to know about moving to NZ

Whether you are looking for insurance values for your household goods or just wondering where people shop in New Zealand, the following information may help.

As discussed in our Cost of Living article, prices in New Zealand are not significantly higher than the UK, but neither are they cheaper - and wages are, on the whole, lower. New Zealand is a great nation of shoppers though, and you will find plenty of malls and specialist shops in main centres.

Beware when shopping of Interest Free Credit and Hire Purchase offers - you need to keep a very close eye on when the "interest free" period runs out, as interest rates charged will be very high.

Nationwide Department Stores:

• The Warehouse
• KMart
• Farmers

The above stores are not up-market department stores, in fact The Warehouse and KMart are quite down-market, but they generally stock a good range of just about everything you need in the home. There are more up-market department stores, but no nationwide chains. Farmers has the best range of furniture and clothing of the three. They all tend to have significant sales at long weekends, and also big sales just after Christmas, with discounts of up to 30%. Neither offer a comprehensive internet listing of their stock for you to browse through, but The Warehouse and Farmers both have their mailers online.

Homewares:

Briscoes stocks a wide range of kitchen and bathroom goods, inluding small appliances, and other general home ware. As with the department stores, they often have big store-wide sales at long weekends, with discounts of up to 50%. They are well known for their random sales advertised on TV and in local newspapers, where for example all bedroom linens are half price for a day or a weekend. They also have their mailers online.

DIY:

• Mitre10
• Placemakers
• Bunnings

Similar to Homebase and B&Q, except that they are amply staffed with knowledgeable, helpful people.

Furniture, Appliances, Technology:

Nationwide chain Harvey Norman and South-Island chain Smiths City both stock a wide range of furniture, appliances and technology, with Smiths City also stocking DIY supplies.

Appliances and Technology:

As well as Harvey Norman , Smiths City and Farmers (all mentioned above), you'll find Noel Leeming, Bond+Bond, Powerstore and Dick Smith stores nationwide for technology and electronics only. Noel Leeming and Dick Smith have particularly comprehensive websites. They all offer about the same range of appliances and technology. You may be able to negotiate quite a substantial discount if you are buying several appliances at once, as you may well do when you emigrate - just try your best poker face and that classic line "Is that the best you can do?" 

Secondhand Goods:

The New Zealand equivalent to Ebay is Trademe. It is an excellent resource for second-hand furniture and household goods. Rather than car boot sales, New Zealanders have garage sales, similar to American yard sales. They are generally held on a Saturday morning, and listed in the Saturday classifieds.

What, no Ikea?

There are plenty of furniture stores, including those listed above, but Ikea has not opened a store in New Zealand yet - although rumour has it that one will open in Auckland in the next year or two. The closest nationwide equivalent would be Freedom, which is pretty reasonably priced. There are also plenty of cheap furniture stores, such as Big Save.

Clothing

Clothing is probably pretty similarly priced to the UK. Children are well catered for with Farmers, Just Kids and Pumpkin Patch, as well as numerous local boutiques selling more up-market brands. There are plenty of both high street and more specialised clothing and shoe stores for adults too, and there is a thriving local designer scene for the particularly fashionable. Be aware though that although retailers tend to discount quite early in the season, there is usually only one shipment of clothing per season - you need to pounce if you see something you really like, and you'll often find that the racks are pretty bare mid-season.

Toys

Toyworld is the largest specialist chain of toy stores, and there are also several affiliated chains of educational toy stores such as PlanetFun and Edex Toys. The department stores listed above also have an extensive toy ranges.

Books

Whitcoulls is one major nationwide book chain.

Groceries 

Please see our article on Food and Drink for more information on groceries, and take a look at our UK/NZ Shopping Trolley Comparison. See also Can I get...? and What We'd Miss for our food favourites FAQs.