Avondale Sunday Market

I am a bit hesitant to give the Avondale Sunday Market full props because it is already such a popular market. However, credit really must be given where credit is due. There are two very distinct aspects of the market and depending what you are after depends on when you should go. The side closest to the race course hosts a myriad of vendors and traders who sell anything and everything. You will find everything from clothes to tools to toys to snowboards to antique home wares. The best time to scope it out would be after 9am until 1pm. The side closest to the parking lots hosts countless fruit/​veg, seafood, fresh noodles, and baked goods vendors. It is the freshest and hands down the cheapest produce available in West Auckland (possibly all of Auckland). The best time to go is early in the morning (7.30−9) or late in the afternoon (12.30−2). The early slot gives you the best selection of produce and the late session gives you the best bargains as all the vendors slash their prices to get rid of what they haven’t sold yet. The food options to eat are limited but the best is the second Thai food stand near the seafood stall. Above all remember CASH IS KING, and EFTPOS is nowhere to be found. Pay the $ 3 to park inside the racecourse or walk/​public transport if you can. If you hate crowds, you will loathe this market (unless you go at 7am) and watch out for the old Chinese ladies, they will mow you down with their trolleys if you stand in their way!

Oh how I love this market. I go into some weird vege-​bargain-​related trance each time, and end up spending an insane amount of time walking round and round. It’s glorious.
I recognise that it’s not for everyone. My husband has been once and swears never again. He’s not so great with crowds and oh are there crowds. My advice is as follows:
1. Just assume you will have to park ages away. That way, you don’t resent it as much when it happens. There is onsite parking for a few bucks if you really want, and you’re more likely to get in here if you go after midday.
2. Don’t go if you are on a tight deadline. You’ll just end up stressed out at how slowly people walk from stall to stall and how long it’ll take to get back to the car
3. Do a lap of the stalls before you start buying. Nothing worse than the ol’ ‘bought capsicums for $ 5.99/kg and then found $ 3.99kg ones round the corner’ feeling
4. Total pros will bring a granny trolley to prevent tired arms from bags of fruit.
5. It’s pretty miserable in the rain. You’ve been warned.
6. Buy up large, because it’s so much cheaper than anywhere else. In fact, for bonus points, do your supermarket shopping straight afterwards so you can walk through the fresh section feeling very smug as you read the prices…
There’s a bunch of non fruit and veg stuff at the market too, but in truth I’ve never stopped to look at it. Way too focused on how many cucumbers I can get for $ 2…

What an incredibly busy market at 7.30am on a Sunday! Everyone is racing around looking for the best bargains pulling their shopping carts behind them! Predominantly the ‘Avondale Market’ is inundated with great produce at very affordable prices — everything from Chinese Veggies, Shiitake mushrooms & seasonal fruit. It was a difficult task to find decent coffee and/​or healthy food. Lots of donuts, hot chips and handmade cakes; but no sushi? The parking is insane, nothing available in Rosebank Rd, so just park in the side streets. There is so much (variety) on sale including bric-​à-​brac, garden utensils, washing powder, CDs, children’s toys — literally everything in your house! Well worth a visit. Amazing community in Avondale:)

This place is like a must go destination for avondale. There was nice little eatery joint — a little on the fatty side. The fruit and veg is always pretty cheap here. But it gets jam packed here so must come early. There are off street parking but don’t try to park right outside you’ll be stuck later on.

It has been a good six months since I have paid these markets a visit, so I excitedly grabbed a couple of green bags and off I went; I bustled my way through, and with, the hordes of people with their prams, trolleys and dogs in tow.
The cheap clothing drew my attention but I was aiming for produce only, so kept my blinkers on. I picked up some herbs for 99c each, handfuls of winter vegies for some hearty soup making and ample fruit to sweeten us up! I couldn’t pass up the Asian sweet treat of glutinous rice rolled in sesame seeds, 3 large ball in a packet for $ 3.50, that will be morning tea taken care of!
Hmmm…what else do I want… free range eggs… up and down all the open market isles, anyone? Free range eggs, anyone? — Nope, not you two shifty looking fella’s, I bought «free range eggs» from you before and they were watery-​pale-​weird-​things that barely resembled food… ok, so no eggs, but bags of other yummy stuff!

Avondale Sunday Market is the best place I have found in Auckland for cheap fruit and vegetables. As previous reviews have mentioned there are A LOT of people and finding parking is tough. I now go at around 1pm as there are more parks AND the vendors are slashing their prices like there’s no tomorrow so the fruit is even cheaper. The main reason I go to the market is to get super cheap fruit for juicing. The selection of fruit and vegetables is vast, if you have the time, do a lap of the market first to find the cheapest or best quality. There is a small area with second hand goods but it’s not great.

It started decades ago, way back in the 70s and is still going strong. I’m up early on a Sunday morning to hit the Avondale Markets.
This is a cool place to come for a bargain and is the ultimate Auckland market representing our city’s multi cultural flavor. I love the fresh veggies and come away with bags of seasonal produce with loads of Asian and other ethnic fruits and vegetables.
The racecourse carpark comes alive from 6am with stall holders and market goers. I’m a once-​in-​a-​whiler but could imagine lots of people come here every week to shop. Your cash goes a long way here.
There is no end to the stalls on offer from tshirts to jewellery, toys to tools. Such a bargain! And there are of course food stalls galore.

Mmmm I’m not that fond of this market, yes it has great fresh fruit and veges and great for Asians who want their nice Asian greens.
However personally for the amount of time it takes to get there and then finding a park I’m not sure its all worth it, and they sell a lot of junk. I would like to see a few more food stalls and something worth buying — apart from the fruit and veges.
However if you are in walking distance or live not too far away or just want to try something new and also like a bit of something old (second hand stuff) then this is the place for you and might just be in heaven there.

My mum is a born and raised Filipino, and the Avondale flea market is where she comes every week for a reminder of home. There’s nothing poncy about this market — it’s just straight-​up honest produce sold for sweet bugger all, and that’s what she loves about it. It’s just like going to a market in the Philippines. As such, it’s extremely crowded, a bit manic, and not the easiest thing to navigate early on a Sunday. But for good value produce, my mum maintains that nowhere else in Auckland holds a candle to it! It also just has a good everyday people sorta vibe — dressed down, chilled out local beats playing on stereos — sweet as!

There’s so many things to like about the Avondale market, but number one is that you can buy really fresh fruit and veges at very good prices and have access to a much wider range of produce than that found in most shops. I’m honestly shocked now when I go into a supermarket and see what people pay for inferior produce there.
Some things you should know: it gets very busy, so if you’re not good with crowds, go early. Like really early, before 8.30am. That’s a bit challenging on a Sunday morn, I know, but you’ll be rewarded by plenty of car parking spaces and much less jostling for space!
The cold drinks caravan, to the right of the main entrance passage by the tote, sells really great home made lemonade for $ 2. The best fresh tofu stall is the one that sells tofu jelly soup — it’s usually about a third of the way down the middle «aisle». There are a few stalls that sell produce that’s past it’s prime, but by far the bulk of places have good produce, so do have a walk around before you buy. My favourite place is the one on the corner as you come to the start of the produce section — they sell big bundles of herbs for $ 1, Jerusalem artichokes, Maori potatoes, malabar spinach and lots of other good stuff.

This is a market. No frills attached. Gum boots, trolleys and be ready to bash your way through the narrow paths between hardened old ladies and stalls of fresh home made tofu, dried fish, fresh fruits and vegetables you have may never have seen. Get there early to avoid the crowds. If you’ve ever experienced a food market in Malaysia, Avondale might bring back some memories.
Some little boutique bakeries have caught on so you may be able to pick up some pastries for breakfast. There’s also a trash and treasure section to this market so if you’re keen for some bargain hunting check it.