More about shopping in NZ

Go into any grocery or general merchandise store an you're likely to find a lot of familiar brands.  Palmolive dish soap, Dove beauty products, Glad Wrap ... the list goes on and on.  What's notable, however, is just which brands you'll find compared to which you won't.  

Why Palmolive, but not Dawn? Dove makes sense, since it's probably the best-known brand. But, on the other hand, that's pretty much the only American brand of soap and lotion that you'll find.  There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to which are available.

Other types of products just aren't available.  There's nothing like Lysol, and liquid laundry soap is essentially non-existent. 

The issue isn't that the products I can get back in the States aren't common; I expect that.  In fact, I'm surprised by how many I can find here.  The point is that there isn't any discernable pattern to what is here. 

Another thing that makes shopping here in NZ different is the range of prices.  In the US, comparison shopping on a day-to-day basis isn't really all that worthwhile.  Most items are going to be pretty near to the same price no matter where you buy them.  Wal-Mart vs. Target, Home Depot vs. Lowes, Best Buy vs. Circuit City, unless something is on special, chances are the same item is going to be the same price at either place.

In NZ, it's an entirely different issue.  Prices can differ by 200-300% on some common items. No one place seems to be consistently cheaper, either, so comparison shopping is really important--as is stocking up when things are on sale.