dairy

In New Zealand, a dairy is a corner shop: a small, usually owner-run convenience store selling milk, bread, snacks, drinks and newspapers, often open late.

What dairy means in NZ

Ask a Kiwi to “pop down to the dairy” and they’ll come back with milk, a pie and probably an ice cream. It has nothing to do with cows anymore. Elsewhere you’d call it a corner store, a convenience store or a deli; Australians often say milk bar.

The ordinary meanings of dairy, milk products and dairy farms, are still used in New Zealand too, so context does the work.

Examples

• “I’m going to the dairy, want anything?”
• “The dairy on the corner does the best mixed lollies.”
• “We ran out of milk, can you grab some from the dairy?”

Where it came from

According to Wikipedia, milk and eggs used to be delivered to city homes straight from dairy farms. By the late 1930s small shops were stocking that produce, and the word dairy shifted to mean the shop itself. The line between dairies, superettes and supermarkets has blurred since, but the word has stuck.

Related terms

• Bottle-o: the Australian liquor store.
• Servo: a petrol station.
• Jandals: what you wear to the dairy.
• Sweet as: great, no problem.

More Kiwi words are in our New Zealand slang guide.