Join Us

Join us

I am interested in joining you – tell me more about The Department.

Based in Napier, the Department of Curiosities and Fine Things is a retail shop featuring the work of over 30 New Zealand designer/makers.

It began life as a couple of Christmas pop-up shops that ran for a month in 2013 and 2014. These were so successful that it was decided to continue long term and has now been running in the same location and run by the same group for nearly 10 years now.

That group, “the curators” are  3 local designer/makers who run the shop voluntarily as a way to sell our own products. Our aim is to provide a city centre outlet for New Zealand based crafts people, to promote the handmade as a viable alternative to the imported goods that the high street stores promote and also to inspire people.

We offer a well-known venue in an art-rich area that has a core of repeat customers, both local and out of town. Napier is a destination for tourists, with a vibrant cruise-ship season that begins mid November along with the Art Deco weekend and many summer concerts. We are open every day of the week and take care of all the sales, packaging, customer service and enquiries that allow you to get on with the business of making.

We are passionate about hand-made, New Zealand made items and love sharing your creations with our customers.
Being at the edge of the town centre we get excellent passing foot traffic and we have a showcase space and large front windows that change regularly.

How does it work?

As a maker with us you will be allocated a space for your own use. For that you will pay a monthly rental calculated by the size of the space you desire. This is all you pay – 100% of your sales are paid to you fortnightly, we do not take any commission at all.

Nice ! – What do I get for my rent?

We are open seven days a week all year except Christmas day, Good Friday,  Easter Sunday and Anzac Day (when we open at 1pm).

Shop sales are kept in the cloud, updated daily and you have access to your own sales sheet so you can check sales via the internet.

We promote the shop via Facebook, Instagram and our website, all actively maintained. We also advertise regularly in local art guides and Napier City promotional booklets.

Our window display changes regularly and we aim to include all products equally at some time throughout the year. Whilst we do not take orders, if a customer asks we will happily pass their contact details onto you so you can deal with them direct.

We maintain an interesting shop and protect you as a  maker by limiting the number of makers we have in any category – generally only 3 or 4 of any product type and no exact duplication. We only stock handmade products from New Zealand based makers.  If you are not local we will set up and maintain your space for you.

Your rent also pays for the usual :-
Shop lease, electricity, insurance etc
Eftpos and credit card fees
Paper bags, wrapping paper etc
Props and improvements to the shop (we have lots of plans)
Advertising

Ok I am hooked – how do I apply ?

Simple, fill in our application form and we will get back to you (full terms and conditions, pricing etc are on the form).

If you have any questions please email us at thedepartmentnapier@gmail.com