Junk & Disorderly

Why go

Junk and Disorderly is one of the great Auckland places of discovery. Not a curated vintage boutique with six nice chairs and a price tag to match — a genuine warehouse on Balmoral Road where you walk in for one thing and leave two hours later with three others. It's been going since 1991, and the pleasure is entirely in the hunt. You're not browsing a selection here. You're digging through one.

What to expect

Corners. That's the best way to describe it — the whole place is organised into pockets you have to find. Right down the far back there's a corner of vintage records and vintage magazines. There are stacks of vintage sewing patterns, though be warned, they're not sorted, so if you're after something specific you'll be there a while going through them properly.

The furniture runs from large statement pieces down to endless bric-a-brac and small bits, and there's some genuinely good artwork — large-scale as well as smaller framed things worth a proper look. Prices span an enormous range, which isn't true of most Auckland vintage; there's something here whether you've got twenty dollars or two thousand.

Stock turns over constantly, so no two visits look the same. Come with time rather than a shopping list.