For homesick Americans in New Zealand, there’s a place to go – Martha’s Backyard.
Image via
Chris and I had heard about MB’s from several sources, and had been looking forward to visiting the store. We planned to go a few weeks back but it didn’t work out, so we postponed until a few weeks later. According to their website, they’ll be adding an online shopping function in the future, but as of now, all they have is the physical store location. Martha’s Backyard is located at 114 Lunn Avenue, Mt. Wellington, Auckland and is open 7 days a week. Initially, we drove right past it because we expected it to be a bit further up Lunn Avenue. It’s located almost right on the roundabout connection of Abbott’s Way, Lunn Avenue, and Ngahue Drive.
Unfortunately, we’d had a bit of a late start that day and had stopped at another store beforehand, so it turned out that we arrived a few minutes before they closed. Boo! I had wanted to really look around, but it was either an abbreviated visit or no visit at all. I’ll take the abbreviated visit!
My first impression was that there were a lot of clothes in there. I didn’t expect that. I thought it was mainly a grocery store, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t stop to look at the clothing, though – we went right for the food! There was mac & cheese, American barbecue sauce, American ketchup, canned pumpkin, angel food cake mix, and so much more. The prices were high, of course, but that was no surprise. I would love to go back again and really peruse their shelves, but as the lady told me, they were a bit low on supplies and wouldn’t be expecting another shipment for 2-3 weeks. If you want, you can email them at sandy{at}marthasbackyard{dot}co{dot}nz, and they’ll let you know when a new shipment arrives.
We ended up leaving with only a few items – a big case of Country Time Pink Lemonade and two {yes, two} boxes of angel food cake mix.
And yes, you’re reading that price sticker correctly – this container cost NZ$24.00. I would have preferred it if they’d had the diet version, but I’ll take what I can get! In my defense, this makes 34 quarts, or just over 32 liters. To buy enough diet lemonade sachets at our local grocery in order to make an equivalent amount would cost around NZ$44.50, so this was in fact a money-saver. The angel food cake was… not a money saver, ha ha! Oh well 🙂
So, if you’re ever in Auckland and you’ve got a craving for a taste of Americana, be sure to stop at Martha’s Backyard. And be sure to give me a call before you go, because I’ll come with you!
I am not affiliated with Martha’s Backyard – you will need to contact them directly.
Please can you get some more almond rockets chocolates and some more downy detergent
Hi there – I’m not affiliated with Martha’s Backyard. I just wrote a review of our experiences for my blog 🙂 I suggest contacting them directly.
Take care,
Jenny
heyy there do you guys sell reeces cookies???? and cheeto puffs???
Thank you! You’ll have to let me know if you guys ever carry out your venture 🙂
Beautiful picture of the Cape. I was doing some research on Martha’s backyard as my husband (American) and I are thinking of a possible venture to do something similar here in NZ, and in the google search your blog came up due to a post you wrote about Martha’s backyard, just had to comment on the picture on the header, it is stunning.
I think that if you email them, they’ll send you their stock list and you may be able to order online from that. I’ve found a place called http://www.mexicanspecialities.co.nz/. It’s run by people who are actually from Mexico and you can order black beans and tortillas and whatnot from their online store 🙂
Wow! This is great! I don’t know when I’ll be in Auckland next but I will go! Did they have black beans? I really need black beans. Actually i have found a small stash down here in Dunedin, thank goodness. But I’m nervous that the store will discontinue the black beans so I need a backup. I actually found a specialty store here yesterday that sells jalapenos and good salsa (Kiwi salsa is, may i say, shockingly bad.) The prices are sky high indeed but at least I can get some now and then when I need a fix. I also plan to start making my own hot salsa because I also found a different place that sells fresh hot peppers. I suppose all this is mexican food, not American, but oh how I miss it. Thanks for the store info!!!
I was just trying to remember the name of that store! I’ve been wanting to go there too and its actually just up the road from my housesit place. I’ll go with you next time 🙂
Must be nice to get a taste of home every now and then! Its nice that they offer a place like that there!!
OMGoodness! I’m so jealous!
It’s not on the site, but if you email them, they will send you their online store brochure.