Do you care where the products you buy come from? Are you a conscious consumer? Are you sick of…read morebuying stuff that lines the pockets of the middle man, and not the makers themselves? Then get yourself to Trade Aid! Where else can you go to find beautifully handmade, handcrafted homewares, where you know its source? Trade Aid is a shop that I continually support, as it's where you can find unique gift that cuts out the middle guy and benefits the artisans and craftspeople directly. The majority of the items sold are beautiful homewares, handmade cards, manchester, kitchen items, delicious coffee and chocolate, toys for children, handwoven rugs, sissal rugs, jewellery and some clothing items. I always think of Trade Aid first if I need a birthday card, a gift, or something for my house. Simply put, Trade Aid has been supporting fair trading practices, well before Fairtrade became trendy. Support them and you support artisans and workers in developing countries. The Henderson branch packs a punch - it may not be as big as the Ponsonby store, but they are SUPER friendly, helpful and always well stocked. Get yourself there! (the chocolate almonds are amazing).

I purchased a ceiling fan from this retailer and it developed a fault much sooner than I'd expect…read moreunder normal household use; when I raised this under the Consumer Guarantees Act, they repeatedly refused to take the fan back for inspection or properly investigate whether the issue was a defect or an installation problem, instead relying on the "electrician only" note in the manual to deny any responsibility and insisting I deal with the manufacturer or pay for my own independent report, so I am now taking the matter to the Disputes Tribunal because in my experience they have not stood behind the product or followed a fair, evidence‑based process when something went wrong.

If I could give negative stars, I would do it…read more We ordered two bunk beds and paid extra for rural delivery to the Coromandel area. On November 5, we had a confirmation email that the shipment had left Auckland and on November 7 that they were at a town 20 minutes away. We waited....and waited....no calls from the company or the couriers, no emails.... Suffice to say that after I initiated probably 12 phone conversations and 20 emails back and forth, it is now November 28 and we still don't have the beds. Finally we have managed to locate them (by driving to the delivery depot in a DIFFERENT town than we were told) and WE will be paying a private courier to finally get them to our house, MAYBE by next week. Urban Sales says they'll only refund the rural excess, but I'm not holding my breath. For those who may think we live way off somewhere crazy, we don't... barely 10 minutes off SH 25 and since it's new construction we've been having trucks up and down the road with large deliveries for months. Urban Sales - if your whole business is based on packaging up IKEA products and delivering them to NZ, but you can't actually deliver, what is the point?!?

This place sells some funky furnishings to brighten up your home. They also stock some great…read morefurniture, jewellery, and gift ideas. The bright colours and textures of items spilling out around their small entrance is what drew me in for the first time. I have shopped there several times, and although I love their stuff I do have to mention that the service has not always been so great; staff are often too busy socializing, or have little knowledge of their own stock; once I left my phone number, wanting the price on a particular item that they couldn't quite get at, physically, and they never phoned me back.

From the owner: Origin Interiors sells quality gifts, furniture and home decor NZ wide to women and men via an…read moreonline shop, plus at an outlet store in Auckland. Origin's returning customers have commented on the ultimate shopping experience because of the unique collection of gifts and love Origin's regular promotions. Origin's email club is popular and every new member gets a special welcome voucher. For anyone looking to buy a gift for Mothers day, or a birthday present, perhaps a Valentines gift for a partner, Anniversary gift and Christmas present, Origin has a large eclectic range of furniture, décor pieces and gifts with attitude.

It was nice to see such a lovely little shop pop up in Birkenhead, since, let's face it, the…read moreshopping area itself is a bit down-at-heel. Crave and a few other little cutesy boutiques are giving this shopping centre a new spark of life, which is fantastic. From the outside the shop is very enticing, with a great mix of funky homewares and a few gift items thrown in the mix. My personal opinion is this shop is a bit over-priced though. I picked up a few items to see the price tag and almost immediately set them back down again. As cute as a box of stripey paper straws is, I'm not paying $12.50 for it. Perhaps if they got in a few reasonably priced options I'd be back.

Crave is a top quality home and gift store that is a new comer to the classic Birkenhead shops…read more Located at the corner of Mokoia Rd in Birkenhead, you will be in for a delightful shopping experience at this stylish boutique. They are award winning as of 2012 receiving a retail excellence award- so enough stated really. If you wondering what to buy a friend or family member who seems to have everything and anything. You might be lucky in finding a few special pieces in this original gift and home store. Stylish cushions and jewellery are my fave's here, because they have flair and style and standout with oomph! The staff are friendly and will help with your needs, all you need to do is call out. If you have found that perfect pressie they will also wrap it up to look gorgeous darling! A real shopping experience with class and sophistication.

If storage is what you're after then Storage Box is usually a pretty safe bet. I often think to…read moremyself that something should be done about my mess of a floor that I have affectionately entitled 'the floordrobe', so I took matters into my own hand and popped into this store the other day. While I thought that they only sold cheap plastic storage options, I was actually impressed by the range of things on offer. Everything from rolling storage devices, to shoe racks, pretty patterned boxes etc. They even stock a range of furniture; bookshelves and I even found a cute little side table here. While I eventually decided on the cheap option of a large plastic box type thing that I could put clothes into and then stash away in the actual wardrobe, I was initially sidetracked by these pretty laundry hampers, until I looked at the prices and saw that they were $89.00, which was just ridiculously expensive. A lot of the things in here were a lot pricier than I thought they would have been for what they actually are, just things to store other things in.

I really enjoy popping in from time to time, and checking what is new on the shelves at this cute…read moregift store on Mokoia Rd. Can be overlooked as the store, is located between takeaway food stores, and a skate clothing outlet shop. Venture in to find an amazing range of choice. All the gifts have an artistic flair to them I believe which is amazing. I arrived not knowing what I wanted to buy, and found two presents within minutes- that is not hard to do here. Walk out the back of the store and there is an outside section that sells outdoor/garden gifts- a favorite area of mine. A creative option of gifts here before the store across the way.

Art of Gifts is a gorgeous collection of art and gifts... predictably. There's so much to feast…read moreyour eyes on it's a bit much to take in in one go. What caught my attention first was the stash of wallets on the shelf to the left of the entrance. They were leather and came in all sorts of colours and styles and patterns. For what they were they were quite affordable. I was hooked by a $19 coin purse! Wondering around the rest of the store you see lots of home décor stuff and quite a bit of Kiwiana. The best is outside the back. It's quite easy to think you're done after doing a quick circuit inside but if you potter up into the outdoors you will see a beautiful garden with great little things to make your own garden look just as beautiful. I was mentally taking note of everything I wanted so I could come back on payday and spend up large.

If you have a thing for jumping into bed with clean, cool, cotton sheets then checkout the linen…read morerange at the spacious new Wallace Cotton store in the NorthWest mall! I love the feel of fresh cotton sheets and I would happily stock my entire linen cupboard with their sheet sets but unfortunately, most of their crisp colours and designs don't quite work with my bedroom furniture. Now if I had a batch or a country cottage, then this is definitely where I would pick up my linen. I like the versatility of their reversible designs and the fresh sea-side cottage feel they seem to create. Wallace Cotton products don't come cheap but they are worth every penny.