Shopping in Thames NZ: Pollen Street and Grahamstown
Almost all the shops in Thames are on Pollen Street, a main street roughly 2 km long that runs the full length of the town centre. It was laid out to connect the two gold-rush settlements that became Thames, and it still works that way today: national retailers and the Goldfields centre at the southern end, independent shops, galleries and antique dealers at the northern Grahamstown end, and a street market on Saturday mornings. Here is how to shop your way along it.
Pollen Street: the Thames town centre
Thames began as two separate towns. Shortland was founded in July 1867 at the southern end, and Grahamstown followed in 1868 at the northern end, after the gold discovery in the Kuranui Stream in August 1867 brought thousands of prospectors to the field. The two settlements were joined by Pollen Street, described by the Thames Business Association on its Grahamstown history page as "a rough unsurfaced thoroughfare 2 km long", and amalgamated into the borough of Thames in 1873.
That history is why the shopping is strung out along one long street rather than clustered in a square. In the late Victorian and Edwardian period Pollen Street settled into its role as the town's main retail strip, and the verandah posts and 1870s shopfront facades you walk under today are the result. For more on how the town came together, see our guide to historic Thames.
Grahamstown: the historic end of the street
Grahamstown, at the northern end of Pollen Street, is the part visitors tend to remember. The Thames Business Association describes it as "a quirky historic shopping precinct full of cafes, antiques, art galleries, museums and the Grahamstown Market". It is where the surviving 19th-century commercial buildings are concentrated, and it is compact enough to browse on foot in an hour or two.
Three heritage attractions sit within the same few blocks and pair naturally with a shopping walk: the Thames School of Mines, the Bella Street Pumphouse, and the Goldmine Experience, which we cover in our guide to the Thames Goldmine Experience.
What shops are in Thames?
For a town of 7,200 people, Thames carries an unusually full range of retail, because it serves the whole peninsula. These are businesses listed in the Thames and Kopu business directory:
| Looking for | Shops in Thames |
|---|---|
| Clothing | Snowden's Menswear, Arbury's Menswear and Ladieswear |
| Books | Carsons Bookshop and Gallery, Mainly Books |
| Hardware, home and garden | Read Bros, Bed and Lighting, Superprice Furniture, Needles and Pins, The Plantery Thames |
| Food and wholefoods | Pak'nSave Thames, Thames Four Square, Savour and Spice, Re-Store |
| Chain stores and the mall | Goldfields Shopping Centre, Farmers, Noel Leeming |
| Vintage and collectables | The Crown Lynn & More Store |
Two are worth singling out. Read Bros at 308 Pollen Street has been trading as a hardware shop since 1867, which makes it older than the borough of Thames itself, and it still stocks engineering and marine supplies alongside homeware. Snowden's Menswear has been locally owned and serving the district for around 50 years. Neither is a museum piece; both are working shops.
The Thames and Kopu business directory has the full list, including trades, health and professional services.
Kopu, just south of town
Kopu sits about 5 km south of the Thames town centre, where State Highways 25 and 26 meet. It is the trade and industrial end of the district rather than a shopping destination, but it is where you will find suppliers such as Placemakers Kopu and Kopu Engineering, and it is worth knowing about if you are mid-project rather than mid-browse. Thames Hire Centre covers equipment hire in town.
Antiques, vintage and second-hand shopping
The Grahamstown end is the reason people drive to Thames specifically to shop. The town's population peaked at around 15,000 in 1870 and had fallen below 5,000 by 1881, and it never boomed again, so a lot of old material stayed in the district instead of being cleared out.
The Crown Lynn & More Store trades in Kiwiana, Crown Lynn and New Zealand studio pottery, plus retro, vintage, vinyl and comics. Mainly Books buys, sells and exchanges used books and jigsaw puzzles. Carsons Bookshop and Gallery has been a Thames institution long enough that people remember stopping there for a summer read on the way to the beach. The Saturday market adds another layer of bric-a-brac, second-hand goods and books on top.
That mix is what makes an unhurried Saturday morning here work better than a targeted shopping trip.
The Thames Market on Saturday mornings
The Thames Market, also known as the Grahamstown Market, runs every Saturday from 8am to 12pm on the 700 block of Pollen Street, at the Grahamstown end. Stalls sell locally grown plants, fruit and vegetables, bric-a-brac, second-hand goods and books, arts and crafts, cheeses, specialty oils and other fine food. The Coromandel's regional tourism listing has the current season running from 19 September 2026 through to 1 May 2027.
It is the busiest morning of the week in Grahamstown, so come early for parking and pair it with breakfast nearby. Full details are on our Thames Market page.
Tips for a shopping day in Thames
- Park once and walk. Pollen Street has kerbside parking with posted time limits, and the town centre is flat the whole way.
- Start at the Grahamstown end if you are here for the independents, antiques and galleries. Start at the southern end if you need the supermarket and chain stores.
- Come on a Saturday morning for the market, or midweek if you would rather browse the shops without the crowd.
- Check hours before a late-afternoon trip. Many independent shops in Thames keep shorter hours than city retailers, particularly on Sundays.
- Build in a coffee stop. The cafes are part of the walk, not an interruption to it.
Where to eat while you are shopping
Pollen Street and the Grahamstown side streets have more cafes than a town this size has any right to. Our guide to the best cafes in Thames covers the pick of them, and the wider Thames eating and drinking guide adds restaurants, bakeries and takeaways.
If you are making a day of it, the things to do in Thames guide pairs the town centre with the museums, the waterfront and the Kauaeranga Valley.
Historical detail and the description of Grahamstown are from the Thames Business Association's own history pages. Market days, times and season are from The Coromandel regional tourism listing. Shop listings come from the Thames and Kopu business directory; check individual opening hours before you travel.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the main shopping street in Thames?
Pollen Street is the main shopping street in Thames. It runs about 2 km through the town centre, with the Goldfields Shopping Centre and national retailers towards the southern end and independent shops, galleries and antique dealers at the Grahamstown end in the north.
What is Grahamstown in Thames?
Grahamstown is the historic northern end of Pollen Street in Thames. Founded in 1868 during the goldrush, it is now a heritage shopping precinct of cafes, antiques, art galleries and museums, with 1870s shopfront facades still standing.
When is the Thames Market on?
The Thames Market, also called the Grahamstown Market, runs every Saturday from 8am to 12pm on the 700 block of Pollen Street. The current season runs from 19 September 2026 to 1 May 2027.
Does Thames have a supermarket and chain stores?
Yes. Thames has Pak'nSave and a Four Square, and the Goldfields Shopping Centre houses national retailers including Farmers and Noel Leeming.
Is Thames worth visiting for a day of shopping?
Yes, particularly on a Saturday. Thames serves the whole Coromandel Peninsula, so it carries a fuller range of shops than its population of about 7,200 suggests, and the Grahamstown heritage quarter, the Saturday market and the cafes make an easy half-day on foot.
How long is Pollen Street?
Pollen Street is about 2 km long. It was built to connect Shortland at the southern end with Grahamstown at the northern end, the two goldrush settlements that merged to form the borough of Thames in 1873.