Let me preface this review with the fact that I am an American with limited understanding of what is and isn't a typical price in New Zealand. I have been wandering around New Zealand wondering where people purchase home goods, such as sheets, duvets, towels, and home decor. I always like to bring home something local and was in the market for non-electronic kitchen goods to bring home. While walking through Taupō, my husband and I stumbled across Bed Bath & Beyond. This is the same name as a huge brand in the United States but the logo looks completely different. Apparently, after doing some research, they are completely separate companies, they just have the same name. From my limited experience, this seems to be a typical sized shop in New Zealand. For Americans reading this, this is about the size of just the home and bath decor (not kitchen) section of a Target. Ceilings are low and a bit dark in the shop, making for a less relaxing shopping experience. I, for the life of me, can't remember if the store plays music while you shop. I do remember being greeted. I noticed that they sell some brands that I recognize from back in the United States, such as Fieldcrest bedding which was sold at Target until 2016 and is now sold at JC Penney. I would say that they have a smaller selection of bedding that Farmer's Home down the street. There are a few shelves of candles, kitchen towels, silk flowers, serveware and rugs. Again, I don't have a deep understanding of what is considered "expensive" for New Zealand but they had some deals displayed. For example a kitchen item was originally $50 but is now $15. Knowing that $1 NZD = $0.64 USD, $50 seemed way too expensive for the item while $15 seemed too cheap. I'm not sure if this business does the US sales tactic of showing a very expensive retail price that the item is never actually priced at to show a significant reduction in price on the sales tag, but it did seem like a suspiciously large discount. Items feel on the low - mid range for items. This doesn't seem like luxury items but it's also not low quality where it seems as if items it would fall apart after a few uses. As an American, I didn't enjoy how dark the store was. After looking around, there wasn't anything that particularly caught my eye, so I left without purchasing anything. Visited February 2023 read more

See all