Queenstown Shopping

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Queenstown Shopping

Southern Lakes Heli Skiing
Queenstown shopping is fantastic! In fitting with its tourism status, the range and quality of shops in Queenstown will not disappoint. Most of the Queenstown shops are located centrally in the mall and the surrounding streets. In addition to many souvenir shops, and ski and snowboard shops, there are international designer stores as well as local boutiques. Shops are generally open for long hours, 7 days a week.

Arrowtown also provides shopping opportunities which includes speciality stores such as local arts and crafts, and a hand-made chocolatier.

Queenstown Ski Shops & Snowboard Stores

Even though there is a plethora of ski and snowboard rental shops in Queenstown, there aren’t as many retail shops as you’d expect for a ski oriented town. Don’t fear though there’s still plenty of choice!

Browns retail store is quite small, upmarket and prides itself on customer service, particularly in relation to ski boot fitting.

Torpedo 7 is diagonally opposite The Station. This is a huge shop and like every other NZ ski shop they sell a large range of Icebreaker apparel. The shop has lots of Torpedo 7 outerwear and a main focus on snowboard brands. Unfortunately my experience on a couple of occasions was that the service was non-existent.

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Souvenir Shopping Queenstown

Queenstown is tourist central so there are plenty of New Zealand souvenirs on offer. The mall (Ballarat Street) has quite a few souvenir shops (e.g. DF Souvenirs) as does Beach Street. The large Aotea souvenir shop is located opposite the casino and wharf (87 Beach Street).

Classic New Zealand souvenirs are sold in Queenstown including traditional wool, possum and sheepskin clothing, Pounamu (greenstone), paua (abalone) jewellery, All Blacks merchandise, and other classic souvenirs emblazoned with NZ motifs. A favourite souvenir spotted in one of the shops was a sheep outfit – the mind boggles?!

For high quality NZ souvenir t-shirts, try Global Culture. Some of the t-shirts have the classic New Zealand saying “Sweet As” as well as a collection of NZ slang.

Some of the goods such as “Ugg” boots might be slightly more expensive in Queenstown than further north, but there’s plenty of competition to keep the prices reasonable. There are lots of shops selling Ugg Australia boots (e.g. Aotea) but these are rather expensive and it seems NQR buying Australian ugg boots in New Zealand. Some Queenstown shops sell Ugg New Zealand, but the sheepskin doesn’t feel or look as good. The lovely Canterbury Sheepskin boots may be a better option, and they’re made in NZ, and are reasonably priced. These are available from DF Souvenirs.

For something a little different, there is a craft market on Saturday mornings where you can pick up various locally crafted goods and lots of baa...gains!

General Shopping Queenstown

The clothes shopping in Queenstown is reflected in the dress culture. You can wear high heels, fur and a party frock, or dress like a feral – you’ll fit in either way. Similarly the clothing stores range from designer brand stores such as Louis Vuitton and Country Road to grungy streetwear outlets.

Queenstown also has plenty of other shops such as galleries, jewellers and pharmacies.

Grocery Shopping

There are multiple supermarkets and convenience stores in Queenstown. One example is Four Square Supermarket on the corner of Shotover Street and Stanley Street. This medium sized grocery store is a little expensive but very convenient. Better prices can be found at Fresh Choice Supermarket, a large store that is located about five minutes from central Queenstown (64 Gorge Street).

Your take-away drinking needs are well catered for with various liquor shops.
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