The New Zealand brands for sale at Costco's Auckland store

Tuesday, 27 September 2022

The shelves are now stocked at Costco in Auckland pending its grand opening on September 28. There were few prices on the shelves when media were shown round the store.

Costco will be selling hundreds of different brands in its 14,800m² Auckland store when it opens this week.

And among the $24 million worth of goods including diamond rings, coffins and baked goods, New Zealand brands will also be on display.

Patrick Noone, Costco’s New Zealand managing director said some local brands included Two Islands, Manuka Health, and Canterbury of NZ, although the latter was actually owned by a British company called Pentland Group.

A lot of the fresh produce, including its bakery foods, butchery meat, fruit and fish, would be local too.

Patrick Noone, Costco’s New Zealand managing director shows off Manuka Health's honeys at Costco.

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But Costco would sell these products differently to other supermarkets such as Countdown and New World.

Canterbury of NZ clothing will be for sale at Costco, although it is actually owned by a British company.

It would have products in an easy to shelve, stackable form. So, instead of loose kiwifruit, shoppers would buy entire trays.

The rotisserie chickens will also be local, and there will be eight rotisserie chicken ovens working whenever the Auckland Costco store is open.

Australian shops sold several thousand chicken a week, Noone said, and he expected the same level of sales from the Auckland store.

Natural hair and body care brand Everblue would be the only New Zealand-made haircare brand to have its shampoo and conditioner on New Zealand and Australian Costco shelves.

The new partnership with Costco aligned with Everblue’s goal to bring its products to a global stage at an affordable price, and Costco members would be able to purchase 800ml Everblue hair care duo packs.

Everblue chief operating officer, Renee Lee said the range had everything Costco was looking to deliver on for New Zealanders.

“High quality products, supporting the local community and delivering them at the absolute best price for our members in a large format they can only find at Costco,” she said.

Noone said Costco globally bought about US$250 million (NZ$443.5m) each year of NZ goods – which was mostly fresh food like apples and cherries, or meat and seafood, but it did include higher-value manufactured goods, including health and beauty products.

Overseas Costco was a big wine merchant, and NZ wine is also among the wines it stocks, but alcohol would not be sold in the West Auckland store.

Noone said there was definitely the opportunity for more higher-end, value-added NZ-made products to be sold by Costco.