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Shalfoon and Francis Grocery Store Museum

It’s like walking into an Aladdin’s Cave – but fuller. The 100-year-old shelves are packed with countless grocery tins and jars. Posters and tin advertising signs promote dozens of bygone brands. You wander between old valve radios, pianos, gas heaters, racks of hardware goods, a claw-foot enamel bath – and that’s just for starters. This is Opotiki’s Shalfoon & Francis grocery and hardware store, opened in the late 1800s and closing as recently as 2000. Now the store is a wonderful museum, noted in the Lonely Planet guide. It’s a quiet sensation, a treasure trove of NZ  shopping history. Take your time: the longer you spend at Shalfoons, the more gems you’ll spot. The store, and adjacent Opotiki Agriculture and Heritage Museum are open weekdays and Saturday mornings, ph 07 315 5193.

Shalfoon and Francis Grocery Store Museum

Church Street, Opotiki
The Shalfoon & Francis Museum displays a vast collection of social history items while the old grocery store sells old fashioned items, lollies, aprons, teacosies etc.Enjoy a nostalgic journey when you come to the Opotiki Museum.