Apart from the complexity, it also limits what you actually buy during Easter. Additionally, not all store closure days are formal public holidays.
Let’s clarify these rules.
Which stores will be open?
The 1990 Store Trading Hour Act stipulated that most stores must be closed for three and a half days a year: Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas and Anzac Day mornings. Interestingly, all of this is public holidays except Easter Sunday.
However, there are specific exemptions for these closures: Tourist resorts (Easter Sunday only): Designated tourist areas and Queenstown have exemptions that allow stores to open on Easter Sunday. Council approved areas (Easter Sunday only): Some local councils allow policy to open jurisdictions on Easter Sundays to open stores on Easter Sundays.
Specific types of shops: Limited categories of businesses can remain open. This includes “small grocery shops,” service stations, takeaway food outlets, bars, cafes, duty-free stores, businesses offering services (but not selling goods), real estate agencies, pharmacies, garden centres (only on Easter Sunday), public transport terminals, souvenir shops, and exhibitions primarily focused on agriculture, art, industry, and science.
Major retailers such as department stores and supermarkets must be closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Stores that are allowed to open have limited sales to them. According to the Ministry of Commerce, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), they can only sell essential items, “people can’t postpone buying until the next day”, which includes examples such as baby formula and pet food.
Businesses that provide services, such as hair salons or video rental stores, can only provide their services and do not allow any goods to be sold. Souvenir shops are limited to selling items specifically related to New Zealand region or New Zealand culture.
While dozens of councils have implemented policies that allow most stores to open on Easter Sundays, in Auckland, the only area with exemptions is Parnell Road, a rule that has been around since the 1980s.
A significant exception to general freedom on Parnell Road is the bottle shop. Like the rest of the country, unlicensed alcohol sales are governed by the Sales and Supply of the Alcohol Act of 2012, which prohibits sales on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas and ANZAC Day morning.
But even the law has a specific carving for “wine, fruit or vegetable wine produced on the house; or from agricultural products harvested from the land where the house is located.”
If you happen to forget to buy alcohol in advance, you can still order at a restaurant or bar as long as you are dining too.
