I am in retail heaven!

Over the school holidays two giant European retail brands opened their doors at Sylvia Park, Auckland. H&M opened first with queues of over 1,000 people, crazy! ​While Zara was a little more low key with around 300 shoppers waiting for the doors to open. ​
















I waited for the crowds to die down, and on Tuesday drove to Sylvia Park to finally check out Zara and H&M. I was in retail heaven, and I was not disappointed. I could have spent a fortune but I am on a budget right now so was very restrained, but I did snap up a black top from Zara, which I will show you in one of my Looks of the Week. 

What I was most curious to see was how the prices stacked up. In the UK H&M is generally cheaper than Zara, and this was the case here too. I would align H&M with Glassons pricing and Zara with Country Road pricing, if not a little cheaper on basics.

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​In particular what Zara is so well known for is its ability to turn around catwalk looks to the high street and with high street prices. Both stores have a definite bohemian feel to their collections, although they both do great basics, tops, jeans, and jackets. 

For those of you outside of the Auckland region, once both these big names start to expand within New Zealand, then online shopping will follow. Watch this space.

I photographed some of my favourite pieces in each store, check out below.

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ZARA
Velvet Embroidered Jacket $199.00, Stripe Maxi Dress $89.90, Black Pleated Frill Top $54.99, Black Lace Top $65.90.

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H&M
Faux Suede Jacket $79.99, Orange Top $24.99, ​Maxi Dress $29.99, Short Dress $29.99.