The White Elephant Op Shop

Auckland, New Zealand

2.3

Closed now

6 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+64 9-309 7797
Address:
246 Karangahape Rd, Auckland, New Zealand, 1010
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.2 miPitt Street
0.2 miMyers Park
0.2 mi7062 / SkyBus to Airport
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Bussiness info

Accepted Cards
Credit, Debit
Parking
Street
Wheelchair Accessible
No
Dogs Allowed
Yes
By Appointment Only
No

Today

Today 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Auckland) 2:32 AM Sunday, June 15, 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Thursday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Friday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Interesting goodies from all eras.

History

Established in 2012.

My name is Kim Decke. I’ve been in the fashion industry in New Zealand for a many years, starting in high fashion in the Zambesi Workroom in 1991!

I’ve manufactured my own label ‘Kim Decke’ and had many stores starting in the John Greer Building in Vulcan Lane in the 90’s. Then came Elliot Street, Darby St and eventually K Road where I now live and work.

As time progressed I added ‘hand-​picked vintage’ racks to my stores since I’d loved sourcing vintage goodies forever (I remember when you could buy Crown Lynn ‘Colour Glaze’ cups by the half dozens, in any colour you liked, and hat boxes turned up on the shelves at the Sallies on a regular basis. Anyway, this vintage rack ‘took off’ in my Velvet Designer Clearance Store (Newton Road 1999 – 2004) and so I was excited to expand and opened in K Road. The White Elephant is my 9th retail outlet but the first selling vintage furniture and bric a brac as well as clothing. It’s still a work in progress.

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6 reviews of The White Elephant Op Shop

No registration required
Place rating: 2
Auckland, New Zealand
I live, breathe and eat vintage three meals a day. IMHO I know my shiz. For the city this place does have a good range of anything and everything but the prices vary wildly from waaaaaay overpriced to really good value, which is always confusing to me! Personally I tend to just check out the $ 2 rack outside as have found some easily repairable gems here. FYI, the lady who owns this also runs Metro Retro at the front of St Kev’s and the newly opened Thriftway* also on K’Rd. Aimed at people who like a easy find/​cant get to the real ops in the burbs/​hipsters. Not for hunters like me. *I think? Oh and watch out for the owners ankle biter that often roams the shop!
Place rating: 2
Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand
This op shop is… interesting. It’s full of all manner of odd things — old electronics, vintage fabric, clothes, kitchenware, and hideous knick knacks. My husband was looking for a pair of jeans and I browsed the sewing patterns, but both of us came up empty-​handed. There was quite a bad smell in the back where the clothes are — they were burning incense to try and mask it, but it was really dreadful, like old stagnant water. The sewing pattern prices are quite a joke — $ 10 for a criminally unfashionable 80s blouse? No thanks.
My husband found an old potato chip cutting apparatus in the kitchen section that had mouldy old fries still stuck to the back of it! Foul.
I can’t say I’ll be back — I like a bit of quirkiness in my op shops, but not to the tune of mouldy chips and stinky clothes.
Place rating: 2
Auckland, New Zealand
hahaha wow… this place… it looks so cute from the outside with its funny little sign and triangle flags and childlike colours to attract your attention, but then you go inside and realize that an extreme hoarder has just died and they’re selling all the shit they dragged off the street from the past 50 years. Seriously, I’m pretty sure I saw come bit of cardboard being sold for 20 cents in there. It smells really bad… probably something to do with the untrained dog they sometimes have in there that just pisses on the floor because they don’t let it out all day… :| weird shop. Don’t think I intend to return… you leave feeling itchy.
Place rating: 2
Portland, OR
Joseph H is right — this space really is an oddity among the stores along K’Road.
I wanted to like The White Elephant. I worked up the road from the place as it was opening, and it was fun to look through the small windows on the Mercury Lane side of the store and see what was unfolding inside. I assumed that the chaos I could see was because they were still setting up the shop, but I’ve been there a few times since and it still feels like they’re unpacking. I know op shops should have a bargain bin/​dig around feeling to them, but The White Elephant is really just a bunch of crap, like you’d find at the old Aotea Square markets or at Avondale on Sundays. I’ve never walked away with anything from this store. Ever.
Place rating: 3
Auckland, New Zealand
Have you ever seen that episode of Friends where Monica and Rachel’s downstairs neighbour, Mr Heckles, dies and leaves his apartment full of junk to them? Well picture that apartment of junk and you’ve pretty much got the White Elephant. It’s a basement just full of pig-​shaped cookie jars, teddy-​shaped teapots and shelf upon shelf of other completely random crap. On the plus side the clothes are well organised and there is even a designer rail where I spied, amongst other things, a Sass and Bide top and a Gaultier shirt for $ 20 and $ 45 respectively.
It’s fun to go have a look round, and even funnier to think that some of this stuff used to sit pride of place in someone’s living room.
Place rating: 3
Auckland, New Zealand
What the hell is this place? I really struggle to understand what’s going on in this place. K rd kind of owns the market for chic second hand dispensaries, but this one doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the gang. Rather than precious artifacts from the past in a charming vintage style, White Elephant seems to put up pretty much anything. There’s no ‘house style’ here. Just a whole bunch of random shit that they’re trying to pawn off on you. It’s really great. I like how weird and confusing it it. I like how terrible all of the clothing is. I like how you get the distinct feeling that nothing is going to work. It’s brilliant.