You can walk past every shop in the village in fifteen minutes, since they fit on three short streets. The trick with Martinborough shops is the days. The fashion and homeware stores on Kitchener Street and the Square mostly open seven days, but the sweet shop opens only at the weekend, two of the homeware stores only from Thursday, and the op shop twice a week.
These are the ones worth a look, in the order you meet them walking out from Memorial Square, with the days each one opens.
Shopping in Martinborough
The shops are on Memorial Square, the first two blocks of Kitchener Street and a stretch of Jellicoe Street, all within five minutes of each other. Most open from about 10am until 4pm or 4.30pm, and most open every day.
Expect New Zealand fashion labels, homeware and kitchenware, a bookshop and post office, a sweet shop, a deli and a wine shop, rather than chain stores. It is a village for browsing between tastings, and on a weekend morning it is busy.
On the Square
Three shops face Memorial Square: The General Store and Roam on the Square itself, and the Martinborough Wine Merchants just around the corner on Kitchener Street.
The General Store, at 14 Memorial Square, carries seasonal collections from New Zealand designers such as Kowtow, Deadly Ponies, Juliette Hogan and Karen Walker, and it opens every day from 10am to 4pm. Roam, at 8 Memorial Square opposite the Martinborough Hotel, stocks women's fashion from New Zealand and Australian labels alongside homeware, gifts and accessories, and is open every day, until 5pm on Friday and Saturday.
Peonies, at 9 Kitchener Street a few steps off the Square, carries women's fashion from New Zealand designers, men's labels and fragrance, and opens every day from 10am, until 5pm on Friday and Saturday.
Kitchener Street
Kitchener Street runs east from the Square towards the vineyards, and its first block is the busiest shopping street in town.
17 Blonde, at 4 Kitchener Street, sells its own New Zealand-made label in natural fibres alongside a few other brands. It opens from 10am most days and is closed on Wednesday. Next door at number 6, The Martinborough Books & Post is the village bookshop and post office in one, with biography, memoir and a good children's section, open every day from 10am to 4pm.
Rume, at 7 Kitchener Street, sells furniture, lighting, art and homeware, from candles and diffusers to cushions and throws. It opens only from Thursday to Sunday.
Back towards the Square, the deli at number 3, The Grocer, sells local food, and Martinborough Wine Merchants at number 6 stocks most of the district's wines.
Homeware and kitchen
For the house, go to Mint on Ohio Street, Rume on Kitchener Street and Peonies Home & Living on Jellicoe Street.
Peonies Home & Living, at 64 Jellicoe Street, is the sister shop to Peonies on Kitchener Street, with fragrance, home decor, Annie Sloan paint and more fashion. It opens from Thursday to Sunday.
Food and wine to take home
The things most visitors actually carry home are wine, coffee and food, and all of it is on or near the Square.
The Martinborough Coffee Company roastery at 4a Memorial Square sells its own small-batch beans, including a coffee aged in pinot noir barrels, on weekdays. The Grocer has local cheese, olive oil, honey and baking, and is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Martinborough Bakery on Jellicoe Street sells bread and baguettes from Thursday to Sunday mornings, and Scotty's Meats is the butcher.
For wool from the district itself, the throws from a farm at Pirinoa near Palliser Bay, are made from fully traceable wool grown on the farm.
Op shop, market and flowers
For a bargain, Priceless on Princess is open twice a week. For flowers and farm produce, two local growers sell direct.
Priceless on Princess, at 45 Princess Street, is the op shop, open on Wednesday from noon to 3.30pm and on Saturday from 10am to 2.30pm. It is worth planning a Saturday morning around.
Gravel Road Farmyard grows seasonal flowers by hand in a paddock outside town and delivers bouquets across the Wairarapa and Wellington. The farm visits and cut flowers at Bill and Penelope's Martinborough Manor are another local source.
The community market runs in the Town Hall on the Square, and the isite has the next date.
Practical things: hardware and supplies
For anything practical, Mitre 10 on Naples Street is the hardware store, open every day from 7.30am on weekdays. The supermarket, the chemist and the post office are all a short walk from the Square.
The New Zealand labels to look for
The fashion shops on the Square carry many of New Zealand's own designers, which makes Martinborough a good place to find something you would not see at home.
Kowtow makes clothes from certified organic, fair-trade cotton. Deadly Ponies is known for its leather bags and accessories. Juliette Hogan and Karen Walker are two of the country's best-known fashion designers. 17 Blonde makes its own label locally in natural fibres. Between The General Store, Peonies, Roam and 17 Blonde, you can see a good cross-section of New Zealand fashion in one short walk.
Gifts to take home from Martinborough
The best things to take home are the ones made here: wine, coffee, food and wool.
A bottle of pinot noir from a cellar door you liked is the obvious one, and the Wine Merchants stocks most of the district's labels if you want a mixed case. A bag of the Coffee Company's pinot-barrel-aged beans is the local twist. From The Grocer, local olive oil and honey travel well. A throw of traceable wool from Palliser Ridge, a box from the Sweet Shop, or a book from the Books & Post all fit in a suitcase.
Shopping with children
The Sweet Shop is the obvious stop, on a Friday to Sunday. The Books & Post has a good children's section, and the playground on the Square beside the Waihinga Centre is a two-minute walk from every shop on Kitchener Street.
A good way to do it is to let the children choose one thing at the Sweet Shop, then spend twenty minutes at the playground while one adult browses the Square.
Which shops are open which day?
Most of the fashion and homeware shops open seven days, so a weekend is the easiest time to shop. Midweek, a few close.
Open every day: The General Store, Roam, Peonies on Kitchener Street, Mint, The Martinborough Books & Post, Martinborough Wine Merchants and Mitre 10. Closed on Wednesday: 17 Blonde. Thursday to Sunday only: Rume and Peonies Home & Living. Friday to Sunday only: the Sweet Shop. Wednesday and Saturday only: Priceless on Princess.
These are the hours each shop publishes on its Google listing in September 2026. Shops in small towns change their days with the seasons, so check before a special trip.
Parking and getting around
Parking on the streets around the Square is free, and on an ordinary day you will find a space within a minute or two of the shops. Park once and walk: every shop here is within about five minutes of the Square on foot, apart from Mitre 10 and the op shop, which are a few minutes further.
On Fair Saturdays the streets around the Square close to traffic, so park on the outer streets and walk in.
Shopping on Fair days
On the Martinborough Fair days, the first Saturdays of February and March, about 500 stalls join the shops on the Square and the streets around it. The shops stay open and are at their busiest.
If you want the shops without the crowds, avoid Fair Saturdays. If you want the stalls, the two Fair Saturdays are the biggest shopping days of the year in the Wairarapa.
Shopping beyond Martinborough
If Martinborough leaves you wanting more, Greytown, 15.5 kilometres north, has a longer main street of shops in historic wooden buildings, and the shops along Greytown's main street make an easy half-day. Back in the village, a coffee before the shops open is the way most people start, and the rest of the village is a short walk from any of them.
Frequently asked questions
Published July 5, 2026
