New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, a dairy is a small owner-operated

convenience shop A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticke ...

licensed to sell

groceries A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

, milk, eggs, dairy products, perishables, newspapers and other staples during and after normal trading hours.

Origins and usage

The term ''dairy'' came into common usage in

New Zealand English New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

to describe small shops by the late 1930s. Perishables such as milk and eggs were formerly delivered to city households from a

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

; by the late 1930s, small shops stocked such produce, and the term shifted to describe these shops. In addition to this meaning, New Zealand English retains the common meanings of ''dairy'', referring to milk, milk-derived products and associated industries. The distinction between dairies, superettes and

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

s has grown increasingly blurred in New Zealand English, a fact acknowledged by the Liquor Licensing Authority in 1991, and by the

Law Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

. Contributing factors to this blurring of meanings include the deregulation of trading shop hours on Sundays, ambiguity over alcohol sales laws (see below), and the abolition of restrictions on types of goods permitted to be sold by dairies. The Law Commission summed up the ambiguity as follows:

Business and culture

Dairies rely on long hours rather than high mark-ups to make money, and are not overly profitable. As small operators, they cannot get bulk discounts that

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s get. As dairies must remain open long hours to stay profitable, they are almost always family-run businesses that utilise family members to run the shop. New Zealand introduced the 40-hour working week in 1945, ending Saturday trading hours for most grocers. Dairies were allowed to stay open outside normal working hours and on Saturdays. During the 1990s and 2000s, dairies became less profitable as other stores made inroads into their niche as nearby stores open outside regular trading hours. As supermarkets opened for longer hours with the introduction of deregulated shopping hours in 1990, and

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gaso ...

s extended the range of goods they sold, dairies began to lose their competitive advantage.

Immigrant ownership

A 1994 study found that 227 of the 269 dairies (%) in central

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

were owned by

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

s. Dairies are often self-owned by

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

s, who may face difficulties entering the workforce. Some dairy owners intended to give their children white collar or professional occupations, while other dairies had inter-generational ownership, with children taking over the store when they reach adulthood. The role of dairies in New Zealand's immigrant Indian culture was explored in

Jacob Rajan Jacob Rajan is a Malaysian-born-New Zealand playwright and actor. His highly successful plays include the trilogy ''Krishnan's Dairy'', ''The Candlestick Maker'' and ''The Pickle King''. Another work was ''The Dentist's Chair''. In 2002, he r ...

's 1997 play ''Krishnan's Dairy'', which toured internationally to positive reviews.

Sales of alcohol and legal highs

The Sale of Liquor Act (1989) prohibited the sale of liquor in "any shop of a kind commonly known as a dairy", without explicitly defining what a dairy was. In the wake of the act, dairies began altering their stock in order to qualify for a liquor license. This resulted in "a proliferation of small stores distinguishable from dairies only because they are licensed to sell alcohol." The legislation contributed to the blurring distinction between dairies and grocery stores in New Zealand English. The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 sought to close this unintended loophole, clarifying the types of stores eligible to sell alcohol and ensuring dairies and convenience stores cannot sell alcohol. The law attracted criticism from dairy owners. The Psychoactive Substances Act (2013) prohibits dairies from selling legal highs.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Kiwi Dairy
at

Tourism New Zealand Tourism New Zealand is the marketing agency responsible for promoting New Zealand as a tourism destination internationally. It is the trading name of the New Zealand Tourism Board, a Crown entity established under the New Zealand Tourism Board Ac ...