Arrowtown Shopping

Ba Ba Black Sheep have you any wool?

Many will stop by at Buckingham Street to have a picture taken with this sheep just outside the shop which is located a few shops away from the Wool Press.

The sheep became the mascot of the shop and drew in large crowd to shop for woolen material.

Yes Sir, Yes Sir, three bags full.

The name of this cute little sweet shop (candy store) is a play on words - nearby you have The Remarkables, a stunning, jagged range of mountains. It IS remarkable to find a shop like this in New Zealand, with shelves crammed with glass jars full of old-fashioned sweets familiar not just to my childhood but to my parents. Come to think of it, it's remarkable to find one now back in England too!

The shop is tiny, as all good sweet shops should be. The shelves are lined with uniform glass jars neatly labelled and full of things like cough candy, cola cubes, gobstoppers, barley sugar twists, lime sours and more. Reading the labels I was reminded of treats I used to buy in penny bags, but sadly the prices have moved into the modern era.

What to buy: What I WANTED were those sherbert-filled coloured flying saucers. Anyone who has had one will know that it's no good just buying a couple, they are far too more-ish for that. Unfortunately the price was horrendous, so what I GOT was a bag of lime sours.

What to pay: How much can you expect to pay? How sweet is your tooth? You will spend anything from a couple of dollars upwards, alas the penny sweet is a thing of the past.

The Remarkable Sweet Shop sells hundreds of varieties of sweets. Located in Arrowtown on the main street, next door to The New Orleans Pub.

You will come acroos some sweets that you have never heard of or tasted before or those sweets that you loved. Bring some back for your fiends and family as souveniers.

This region of New Zealand has a large Scottish population, descending from the pioneers who settled here. Coming with this is some of the culture of Scotland with tartans and woollens. And as the region is famous for it's merino sheep, this is apparent in the items on sale.

What to buy: Merino woollen garments, and other clothes needed for life in a cold climate. You can also find here, the unique and very warm mix of merino wool and possum fur garments.

OPEN 7am - 11pm, 7 days a week.
Finding a shop to buy supplies when you are travelling is often a problem, especially out in the country. Having this store in Arrowtown, is a great benefit and could be a lifesaver in times of need. Mostly food and drink, but there are all sorts of general supplies for the weary traveller to be found here.

What to pay: Maybe a little more than big towns, but convenience costs sometimes.

This is my favourite gift shop in the area. I have shopped here many times over the years. Small, a little cluttered, but you can spend a long time in here snooping around, you will find interesting tasteful quality stuff. Not exactly full of New Zealand gifts, but really nice items you could buy for your host or to take home. Yes they do have some New Zealand items of course!

Nemo is a brand new fashion shop which opened in November in Arrowtown.
They make their own bags, clothing and jewellery. And also stock some other NZ brands including Kathryn Leah Payne.
I thought it was kinda cool when I went in, because the 'sales assistant' was actually one of the designers, and the workshop is behind the counter, so you can watch work in progress.

What to buy: Kathryn Leah Payne leather accessories: elements from the earth and nature provide inspiration while greenstone, metal and native rimu are used as beautiful and unusual fastenings, Maori and Chinese motifs echo through intricately detailed etchings.

What to pay: Bags start at USD20

The Gold Shop is recognised as one of NZ's leading specialists in natural gold nuggets and gold nugget jewellery. There is also one of the largest collections of New Zealand Gold Nuggets in the world to go and admire.

What to buy: Gold of course!! From glass pendants containing gold flakes, to small nuggets.

What to pay: Upwards of USD20