https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/applewatchlearnmore
Only three stores (two in Auckland, one in Wellington) but it's better than online only. Noel Leeming are Apple resellers, but aren't affiliated with Apple beyond that.
I think it's great that they made it available in retail stores, but seriously, three stores in the entire country, two of them in the same city, and none at all in the entire South Island? In addition, if you try to phone any of these stores they are so busy they won't even answer their phone. And, you have to go into the store to make an appointment, before you can go back to try the watches on. This makes for a terrible experience if you actually want to buy one.
Personally, I rang the "local" store (meaning the store closest to me, which was still a two hour journey away), 7 times through their call centre and never got an answer. I then spoke to a lady at the call centre itself, who told me that the reason the watch was in three stores only, and it was set up with appointments was because Apple insisted on it that way, and that if they didn't comply, they wouldn't be able to sell the watch at all . She also told me that people were travelling up to six hours each way to get to a store, and that Noel Leeming was still having to turn them away, due to Apple's policies. She was very apologetic and agreed that the situation is ridiculous. I then rang Apple to tell them what the experience was of buying an Apple Watch in New Zealand, and the rep there also thought the situation was ridiculous. Hopefully my comments will be passed on to the right people.
I ordered my SS directly from Apple yesterday, after an entire week of getting messed around. Had I known how bad the experience was going to be with Noel Leeming, I wouldn't have bothered to contact them in the first place (and would already have my watch).
Apple seem to have gone very overboard on the "Apple Watch is a piece of jewellery" approach and forgotten that this is first and foremost a piece of wearable tech. Sure it looks nice, but if it was really a piece of jewellery, shouldn't it be sold in a jewellery store, rather than an electronics retailer alongside various other cellphones, tablets and computers?
