Discount & General Merchandise Mailer This Week in New Zealand

Three very different ways to shop cheap

Type "discount store nz" into Google and the suggestions run to outlet stores, discount warehouses and "discount shop" plus a city name. That is a loose bucket, and this hub is looser still. It holds a trade-only wholesaler, a family-owned variety chain and a clearance grocer. They all send out a mailer or catalogue, but they are not shopping for the same person, so it pays to know which is which before you plan a trip around a page.

The three are Gilmours Cash 'n Carry, Crackerjack variety stores and Reduced To Clear. If your weekly shop is mostly supermarket food, our supermarkets hub is the better starting point, and the wider picture sits on the New Zealand home page.

Gilmours: wholesale first, public second

Gilmours is a cash and carry, and the key word is trade. Its about page says it serves businesses and organisations, and the trade membership covers businesses, clubs, not-for-profits and charities, so a household shopper cannot simply walk in and treat it like a bargain barn. The about page mentions eight Cash 'n Carry stores: North Shore, Mt Roskill, Manukau, Tauranga, Hamilton, Hawke's Bay, Central and Wellington.

The queries people type are telling: "gilmours specials this week", "gilmours meat specials" and "gilmours butchery specials". The timing matters here. The Buyer's Guide is published every four weeks, so there is no weekly rhythm to chase. A page that is a few weeks old may well still be the current one. The club has no annual fee, and account customers can earn Airpoints Dollars or ASB True Rewards, which suits a caterer or a club committee more than a family.

Crackerjack: the variety shop with a mailer

Crackerjack is the one most people mean when they say "discount store". It is New Zealand family owned and was known as The Clearance Shed before it took its current name in 2009. Searches such as "crackerjack mailer catalogue" and "crackerjack nz catalogue" show shoppers want the printed-style spread, not only the website.

The company store page lists most stores open daily, 9am to 5:30pm, which is a handy fixed point if you are planning a stop on the way home. It offers Click & Collect, gift cards and a mailing list. Trading on Easter Sunday, Good Friday, Christmas Day and the morning of Anzac Day is a different matter, because the Shop Trading Hours Act closes almost all shops on those days. Check the store before you drive.

Reduced To Clear: chilled and dairy, not clothes

The name is literal. Reduced To Clear sells clearance stock, and the searches ("reduced to clear specials this week", "reduced to clear opening hours") sit alongside suburb names such as Onehunga, Manukau, Hamilton and Hastings. Two facts help you plan. Chilled and dairy lines usually arrive on Thursday or Friday, so those are the days the shelves tend to look their best. And it is recorded as never selling past a use-by or expiry date.

There is also a Tuesday in-store offer for SuperGold card holders. Sunday hours vary by store, and restricted trading days apply. Because stock turns over, a catalogue page here shows the kind of range rather than a promise that an item will still be on the shelf when you arrive.

How the three compare

• Who can shop: Gilmours is for businesses, clubs and charities. Crackerjack and Reduced To Clear are open to anyone.
• Catalogue rhythm: Gilmours runs on a four-week Buyer's Guide. The other two are more about browsing a mailer and checking the store.
• What you buy: bulk trade supplies and butchery at Gilmours, general variety goods at Crackerjack, clearance groceries and dairy at Reduced To Clear.
• Loyalty: Airpoints Dollars or ASB True Rewards for Gilmours account customers, a mailing list at Crackerjack, a SuperGold Tuesday at Reduced To Clear.

Timing, holidays and the Christmas squeeze

Employment New Zealand lists Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day until 1pm as restricted trading days, when almost all shops must close. Shops that sell only food and essentials get listed exceptions, and a clearance grocer or a variety shop should not assume it qualifies.

Seasonality is gentler than at a department store, but it still exists. Black Friday has grown into a big retail weekend, with the Retail NZ chief executive saying it can rival Boxing Day for many stores.

Saving tactics that hold up

• Match the shop to the need. Do not look for household bargains at a trade-only cash and carry.
• If you buy chilled or dairy from Reduced To Clear, go on Thursday or Friday for the freshest delivery, and read the dates on the pack anyway.
• Treat a mailer page as a guide. Stock at clearance and variety shops moves, so phone ahead for anything you are making a special trip for.
• For a faulty item, the Consumer Guarantees Act covers goods bought for personal or household use, whatever a store policy says. A change of mind is not covered by the Act, so ask about the store's own returns before you buy.

Questions shoppers actually ask

The pattern in the searches is practical: where is the nearest store, what is on this week, and when is it open. If you want to compare formats beyond this hub, the supermarkets hub covers the grocers these stores sit beside, while the rest of the country is on the New Zealand page. We have not verified current stock at individual branches, so use the catalogue pages here to see what a chain is promoting and the store itself to confirm what is on the shelf.