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Story: Spending in the economy

Shopping as leisure

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Shopping as leisure

Large shopping malls, like this one at St Lukes, Auckland, are venues for concentrated spending. First built in New Zealand in the 1960s, they envelop shoppers in an air-conditioned retail world supplied with almost every facility that money could buy – as well as shops of many kinds, they can include food halls, movie theatres and playgrounds for small children.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Shirley Williams

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How to cite this page

Paul Dalziel, Spending in the economy – Economic reform from 1984, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/21637/shopping-as-leisure (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Paul Dalziel, published 4 March 2010, updated 16 September 2016.