High Tide

High Tide is the kind of gift shop that once you know about it, you’ll go back to shop for yourself. So it’s type of gift store that has things you’d actually want to receive yourself, rather than just the okay but slightly pointless stuff you sometimes find in other gift shops.
It has a New Zealandy theme without being tacky (think teatowels with the Four Square man and lovely handcreams featuring local ingredients and scents). Everytime I go here the stock seems to have been updated, which must be trickly in a little suburban shop, but is so necessary to keep customers’ interest.
It also has a bit of a beachy theme going on, which is all sort of fresh, white and blue striped, and relevant to the area too (the beach is just down the road). Best of all, the prices are genuinely reasonable for the quality of the products, and the service is brilliant — very relaxed and chatty.