The historic Canterbury store still waiting for Google’s recognition

Saturday, 13 June 2026

It was Emma Huckstep’s mission to get her Okains Bay General Store on Google Maps. Now that little hiccup has been cleared up, the next sticking point is getting the shop’s longevity recognised.

The Banks Peninsula store is the longest continuously running shop in New Zealand, opening in 1878 - not to be confused with the oldest, which was established in the early 1800s.

“It doesn’t even come up when you Google ‘oldest continuously running store in NZ’,” Emma says.

On a warm sunny day in Okains Bay, Emma Huckstep enjoys the sound of the birds and the views.

According to Google, that accolade belongs to Gilchrist's Store in Oturehua, Central Otago. It was established in 1902, more than two decades after the bay’s store opened.

It’s a 90-minute drive from Christchurch, uphill and down dale, around windy roads and through thick morning fog to get to Okains Bay, but in the small settlement, the sun is shining.

Emma is soaking up the warmth from a couch on her porch, looking over a white picket fence to Okains Bay School, the hills, and a kingfisher perched on a power line.

Okains Bay School has nine pupils, up from five at the start of the year.

The birds are part of the bay’s appeal for Emma, as well as the absence of street lights.

Through the open door of her home we can hear National radio, which she says you can “only listen to for so long”, but the options are limited with sub-par internet, no digital airwaves and cell phone reception that was unheard of until a few years ago.

It’s a quiet settlement in the cooler months, but the crowds roll through in the summer, boosting the population to over 500 as people make the camp ground their home over Christmas.

Last year she and a friend, Scotty Farmer, made inroads to improve the radio offerings, launching O’Bay Radio 107.7. It leads us further into the topic of radio stations and a digression into the local hall, which would be the perfect place to broadcast from.

“We need to get the aerial up in the air and where it is currently, the house is surrounded by trees so the reception’s really bad. If we could just put it in [the hall], then the community can use it, go in and do a show. It just needs to be secure. Please can we have our hall.”

It was boarded up by the Christchurch City Council last year “because they didn’t fix two metres of guttering that made one of the front rooms rotten, then the roof fell down because someone stored paint cans up there”.

“So it’s currently closed which is really annoying because we used to have quiz nights, community dinners, just that kind of thing. Now it’s gonna cost a fortune to fix it.”

The Okains Bay General Store is the longest continually running store in New Zealand, established in 1878 - even though Google fails to recognise this achievement.

The school was used for a get-together recently, but it’s “disjointed” splitting a crowd through two rooms. “And the lighting, holy cow, it’s like we’re doing an autopsy, not having dinner.”

Scotty set up O’Bay station’s big brother, Rotten Radio in Lyttelton, motivating Emma to see if he could bring the music over the hill.

“I encourage people to do things. I chucked a couple hundred bucks at it so he could get the gear over here. That was the best $200 I spent.”

The initial plan was to run the station from the grain store, a building neighbouring her home, but that plan was thwarted.

The Okains Bay Museum is a drawcard for the community, revealing much of the area’s history.

“In the same week, someone applied to put something in there. That building has been empty for years, what are the chances? But it’s really cool, it’s got Custodian in it - industrial furniture.”

With the grain store and hall no-goes, the station airs from a local’s house, playing “very eclectic” music, from the Dog Show theme tune (Flowers on the Wall by The Statler Brothers) to hard rock.

“There’s some hilarious songs on there. Got a bit death metal last week, but you just turn it down then the Dog Show [tune] comes on.”

Fur seal pups have been a welcome timewaster for Emma.

The most asked question from visitors is ‘how many kids go to the school?’ - a question we had already asked. (Other questions include “is there another shop?” and “where is the beach?”, but we already know the answer to those.)

There are nine pupils, and Emma jokes it’s the “fastest growing school roll in New Zealand”.

Signage alerts viewers to stay 20m away from the curious, playful pups visible from the small bridge at the bay’s entry.

“It was five at the start of the year”, the girls outnumbering the boys six to three.

There’s more than a museum, a campground, a school and a general store in Okains Bay; there are dozens of houses accommodating enough residents for a tight-knit community.

The camp ground accommodates 500, and is full over the Christmas break.

“I stood outside a couple of years ago and counted my way around and got about 50 permanent adults. I think it’s gone up a wee bit; a couple moved in at the weekend. Pretty much all the houses are full at the moment.”

Among the permanent residents are tradies, farmers, doctors and artists.

The number of people called Peter is “ridiculous”, Emma says. Both neighbours either side of her are named Peter, with a further three in the bay. There are also “about four Mikes - come on”.

It seems like a ghost town when we visit. A mother with her young children walk down the centre of the main road and the number of cars that drive past the store in a couple of hours can be counted on one hand. But it’s a different story in summer.

Part of the bay’s appeal for Emma is the birds, and no street lights.

Beach-goers and holidaymakers boost the population to more than 500, which is how many people the campground can accommodate.

When bays around Lyttelton close due to bacterial or sewerage contamination the beach is “heaving” Emma says, because it’s safe - no rips, a good lagoon and shallow waters.

But a phrase from a poem, ‘water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink’ rings true in the bay.

Okains Bay was Ngāi Tahu’s first landing place and settlement in Canterbury.

“Can’t drink the water. It’s the only bay that can’t drink the water.”

Emma’s home has five filters and a UV light, and she still can’t give a cup of water to strangers.

“A lot of cyclists ask for water. I feel awful saying no to people when they ask me to fill their water bottle.

The old telephone booth, converted into a community book share, is a source of entertainment for Emma as she says visitors struggle to find the door.

“It’s basically stock water, it just comes off the creek. When you’re clearing out the filters and you do the intake, it’s just brown. I’ve seen the plumber open one thing and flick sticks out of the pipe.”

That’s not Emma’s only bugbear.

“The internet here sucks. It’s all cell towers, so if one goes out or if it’s windy or cloudy [you’re out of luck], but it’s better than the none when I first moved here. We didn’t even have cell phone reception.”

She explains the challenges of paying a bill online requiring two-factor authentication where a code is messaged to your phone.

“You’d have to drive to the top of the hill, get your code and get back down here before the code expires. What a nightmare.”

Okains Bay, known as Kawatea in Māori, is significant to Ngāi Tahu as its first landing place in Canterbury, with principal chief Moki establishing a settlement there. The Ngāi Tahu hapū Ngāi Tūhaitara established themselves strongly in the area by the 1730s.

Emma has a soft spot for Banks Peninsula, having lived in Lyttelton and Akaroa over the years, after living in Balclutha during primary school.

“Dad was a cop so we moved around a bit.”

Her connections to the peninsula are strong - the former Volcano restaurant was her workplace “base” during shifts in and out of Lyttelton; her aunt owned the supermarket in Akaroa; and her last job in Lyttelton before moving to Okains Bay was as a chef at Cholmondeley Children’s Centre.

When she had to leave her Lyttelton rental in 2021 due to the landlord carrying out renovations, she typed ‘Banks Peninsula’ into TradeMe properties. Within six weeks she had packed up her house, quit her job and opened the shop.

Despite Emma’s gripes about the state of the water, the internet and hall closure, there’s plenty she loves about the bay.

“There’s always something to do here. A walk down the beach, that’s quite nice. I currently have to mow the lawns. Then I have to go to the city and get all the stuff for the shop.”

The seal pups down the road have been a welcome timewaster, with Emma posting videos of them playing on the General Store Facebook page.

There’s a “cute” 2km return trail to Little Okains Bay, but when people ask for the best place to walk, she suggests Hinewai Reserve, a privately owned ecological project run by Hugh Wilson.

“It’s amazing … you could spend days in there.”

Emma shows us the store, which is closed at the time as she slowly reduces the hours before closing in July and August for winter. She points out where the post office and telephone exchange used to be, now just one big general store with good coffee.

It’s just 18 months until the store reaches the 150-year milestone.

“I really want to be here for the 150th. What else am I gonna do? It’s my house, it’s my life, I like it here.”

And just maybe she’ll get it its rightful place on Google.