The Perfect
WestSide Weekend.

First, the guide that powers this whole plan. What's Open Right Now is the live version of this article... any hour, any day, it tells you exactly who's trading on the strip.

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Now the plan.

Before You Come

Saturday

7:00am · Coffee where the tradies go. Dax Cafe opens at 7 on King Street North and the first hour is the good hour. If you're a pastry person, Bakers Delight is pulling trays from 7 too. And a piece of strip trivia to impress nobody: the earliest door on the entire WestSide is Uptown Barbers at 6:45am... if you want a cut before breakfast, Hastings can do that.

9:00am · The op shop circuit, while it's fresh. Saturday morning is when the good stock surfaces. SPCA Op Shop from 9, Habitat for Humanity 9 till 1 (hard stop... go early), SaveMart from 9, Cranford Hospice Shop from 10. The full route with the pull-quotes is in The Op Shop Circuit.

10:30am · The craft quarter. Spotlight anchors it, Knit World does 10 till 2, Q Variety Store has the jars and crocks you didn't know you needed, and Stitch in Time closes at noon sharp... sequence accordingly. Map and backstory in The Craft Quarter.

12:30pm · Lunch, three speeds. Quick: Kami Sushi. Sit-down: Thai Orchid's lunch service runs 11:30 to 2:30. Big: Asian Satay Noodle House fires from noon. John's Bakery works too, but the pie window shuts at 2:30.

1:30pm · The walk-in beauty hour. Saturday afternoon is walk-in territory... Saray Nails trades to 5:30, Lili Beauty to 5, Anna's Beauty Lounge to 5. What everything costs at every door is one page: The Going Rate. Fair warning on timing: Cut Above and Mphosis wind down mid-afternoon Saturdays, so hair is a morning booking.

3:00pm · The fun block. The Line Gallery hangs a thousand cryptoartists (and PixelArcade) until 6. Hobby Lords runs games till 7. Music Works and The Lolly Shop both close at 4, so hit them first if either calls to you. Full tour in Fun, Levelled Up.

6:30pm · Dinner. VietThai Cuisine opens for dinner at 5. Hawke's Bay Roast carves till 9. Kippers fries till 8:30. Can't choose? That's literally what What's For Dinner is for.

8:30pm · One more. Cru Bar is open till late... the listing genuinely records no closing time, which tells you what you need to know.

Sunday

8:30am · Slow start. Cambodia Bakery & Cafe from 8, Dax again if you imprinted yesterday (till 2:30 today). Here's the thing most people get wrong about Hastings: 46 WestSide doors open on a Sunday. The town is not shut. Pass it on.

10:00am · The massage you earned. Bliss Thai Massage runs 9:30 to 7 on Sundays... book the 10am and the whole day arranges itself around it. Prices from $50 for thirty minutes, full menu in The Going Rate. And the strip's quietest flex: two barbers open on a Sunday... Freshy 8 till 6 and The Cutting Booth 9 till 5. Monday-you, sorted.

11:30am · Gallery and games, round two. The Line and Hobby Lords both run Sunday hours... whatever you missed Saturday, the door's still open.

12:30pm · The Sunday shop. Nine fashion doors trade Sunday afternoon: Farmers, Pascoes, Michael Hill, Hallensteins, Just Jeans, Postie, Octave Mettle, The Baby Factory, and the SPCA Op Shop for one last fossick. Most close around 4.

2:00pm · Long lunch. King Street Bar pours 11 till 10 on Sundays... the long-lunch specialist. Thai Orchid and VietThai both run Sunday lunch services if you're chasing plates instead.

5:00pm · The easy exit. Early dinner at VietThai from 5, or Hawke's Bay Roast till 9... then home, smug, having never once stood in front of a closed door.

The One-Sentence Version

Saturday is op shops and crafts in the morning, walk-in beauty and games in the afternoon, dinner off the strip's own menu... Sunday is a slow bakery start, a booked massage, nine shops and a long lunch... and every hour of it is checked against What's Open Right Now before you trust us.

The WestSide rewards the early. And the late. And, it turns out, the Sunday crowd too.

Check Who's Open →