Any place that claims to be "The Best Of..." draws me instantly, and not because I am a sucker, quite the opposite, I am cynical and have a great sense of humour, sometimes not to everyone else's amusement.
So, I take a pic and walk on in... hmmmm, looks to be the same as so many other souvenir shops so far, lots of wool clothing, a few sheepskins, a few Kiwi icon paraphenalia, some medicinal New Zealand creams and medicines, albeit a bit more than usual, not much here really... so I ask - "What makes your store 'The Best Souvenir' shop?", I have to repeat myself a couple of times to try and explain my question, I smile too, I'm friendly enough. The young man is a bit sheepish, because his "dad bought the shop", he explains, there is seven of them ("THE best...", they obviously have a sense of humour too). The young man tries to be helpful by rummaging around to give me a business card and explaining that the chain has been around for 20 years; his efforts deserve more than two stars, but sorry souvenir shop you are not "The Best" that I have seen. read more