US v NZ prices
Just returned from a recon trip to Wellington. We did a bit of random price comparison shopping. I'm not sure how helpful this will be, since we couldn't possibly know after only one week which store might be the most economical for certain items. However, we thought this would at least help us get a handle on whether things really are more expensive. Hopefully this is of some interest to others out there:
BOOKS: Books are outrageously priced! A typical paperback in the US is $7.99. We found that most stores were selling books around the NZ$25-$30 range. At first, we thought it was because we were only looking at American-authored books. But, no, they are all that expensive. (Side note: we were actually a bit surprised at the number of US authors they carry. They even had JA Jance, a local Arizonan author.) We tried several stores in CBD and the Jville Mall. Same general prices. A Kiwi that I interviewed with told me he only buys books through Amazon.com (he lived in the US for a couple of years and is now hooked on Amazon). Even with shipping costs, it still ends up being much cheaper. We saw a few used book stores so that might also be an option. And we've heard that Libraries have great selections but didn't actually confirm this.
DVDs: Don't even think about it. DVDs that we can get at BestBuy for $7 to $10 are going for around NZ$50. This would be another Amazon purchase.
MAKEUP: Again, outrageous! SoCal Gal mentioned in another thread that mascara cost NZ$25. I have to admit that I assumed she was referring to some high-priced cosmetic brand (like Dior or something). Nope. Something that we could buy at Target for $5 costs about NZ$25! Another price point - Clinique 7-day scrub cream was $56! :eek Lancome Hydra Zen moisturizer was $105. (Sorry if these are obscure items but they were easily available on shelves as we walked by.) How do Kiwi women afford this? I noticed that the professional business women I saw in Wellington were ALL wearing makeup so they obviously don't "do without." Very pricey! Note to self: stock up on mascara!
SHOES: Dismal situation. Again, we might not have looked in the right stores but a random sample of shoe stores in CBD showed that a basic pair of woman's black boots (just past ankles) cost about NZ$250-290. It is important to note that these were NOT some high-quality Italian brand like you'd find in Nordstrum's. These were basic low-quality cheap shoes. Men's shoes were equally pricey. We did note that there were some discount shoe stores in some of the suburban malls (e.g., Jville). The quality was not great there either but at least the prices were a tad less.
CLOTHES: I went to the woman's section at the K&S dept store in CBD. If I was in the right section, OMG! All they had were very pricy Versace (and similar) brands. If you love Neiman or Saks, this is the place for you. If you're a Macy's/Hechts/Dillards type, you're in for a world of hurt. Don't know what to do about this one. You can certainly buy clothes in advance but what do you do when those wear out?? My husband looked at a basic pair of Levi's and they were about 2x or 3x US prices. (I think it was NZ$100)
GROCERIES: This is a hard one since we weren't actually buying food for the week. However, it seemed that prices were slightly higher but not ridiculously so. Side note: They do not carry things like andouille sausage, various mexican spices, fresh chilies (e.g., jalepenos), coffee creamer. Although they did have green tabasco sauce and fresh chorizo sausage. (If anyone can tell me where I can find a local Mexican store in or near Welly, I'd appreciate it!) We were also surpised that most grocery stores did not seem to have a large selection of fresh fish. Where do you buy fish in Wellington??? Another oddity is that the meat was very thin - we went into several different grocery stores and butcher shops and they don't seem to cut really thick steaks or filet mignons like you can get here (especially at Costco). Not sure how you grill a decent medium-rare steak when they are barely 1/2" thick? Will have to hope the butcher will special cut them! SoCal Gal - they do have saltines!
ELECTRONICS: Others have noted that these items are pricier and it seemed that way to us.
Wow, this got to be pretty long. I'll stop here. If anyone has questions, let me know.
RoadRunner
Originally Posted by spodie
