The Vault

I shop here for my wife all the time. Why? Because in one place I can always find something nice for her. They have a good range of quality and diverse items, across budgets, and I can’t think of somewhere similar in the CBD. And more than once I have asked for an opinion on the suitability of a gift and the staff offered great insight and service is generally excellent. You just don’t find service like that at most stores. I am a loyal customer of this store now.

I popped in here today to grab a gift for a friend. I didn’t actually find anything that would suit her, but that’s totally fine. They had some cute stuff available, and I could imagine popping in here for a gift for someone else.
However, one thing I will say is that the service is AMAZING. I went back to the Vault after finding the required present because I saw the Vault had a very good collection of gift cards. Because some of my present wasn’t wrapped, I asked if I could buy some tissue paper from there with the card. The woman told me she couldn’t sell me any, but would give me some. She gave me white tissue paper, pink tissue paper as well as ribbon. I was only buying a $ 6.50 card and she did all of that for me. What a gem.

The Vault is a bit of a New Zealand institution and perhaps that’s why my expectations of it are so high. Or perhaps it’s the anticipation of decending the stairs that always gets my hopes up.
I feel like it’s not the exciting, artsy place to shop that it used to be. It’s seems to have become much more mainstream.
Still, it’s definitely worth a look if you’re after a nice present, especially for a housewarming or to send overseas, as lots of the stuff they sell is made and/​or designed in New Zealand, which is cool. I wish they still had the incredible range of jewellery that they used to though, and would focus a bit less on kiwiana.

I used to go to this shop when it was located in Christchurch pre-​earthquake. In those days you had to walk up stairs, but in their High Street Auckland location, you walk down stairs from street level.
Once inside you will find lots of gifts to look at, nicely arranged in the rather spacious shop. There is a lot of NZ made products for sale; jewellery, also wallets and travel accessories, wall hangings and general knick-​knacks — all with a distinctly Kiwi flavour.
Come here for that person who has everything as The Vault specialise in unique gifts so you will definitely find something that appeals. And you can then get it gift wrapped (for free).

I love stores that sit below a mysterious staircase. When you descend down the stairs it feels like you’re going somewhere really special. Like perhaps the things you are going to find are so awesome they need to be hidden from the daylight. That’s kind of the feeling here at Vault. Even the name suggests this kind of attitude. The only thing is you don’t feel special once you’re inside because it’s so busy! But that fact just reassures you that there are wonderful things to be found. When I last came in I was tripping over people’s feet. There was someone examining the great items in every corner of the store. I saw a shop assistant going into great length to help a customer find exactly what they wanted and that made me smile. The main thing I found fascinating was the huge amount of clocks. Every type of clock you can imagine… and even strange clocks you would never imagine. The store is definitely on the pricier side of life but there are definitely cool things on offer.

To walk down the steep staircase from busy High Street and to find a small store which has the quiet of a museum gallery, instantly sets a mood which appropriately accompanies what the Vault has to offer. Really cool store to have a browse around in. Lots of really original Kiwiana jewellery and ornaments. Much more interesting than the stuff you find in the tourist shops dotted around Queen Street, it is a shame that most tourists will pass through Auckand completely ignorant to the Vault’s existence. There are so many original products in this store, it makes it the perfect place to buy gifts.