Dollar stores are suddenly everywhere and they have everything you need.

Dollar stores are everywhere and they have everything you need. There's an uncomfortable reason behind their abundance.

Since the first $2 Shop opened in 1994, hundreds of bargain stores selling birthday cards, stationery, craft supplies, kitchenware, phone chargers, and toys have popped up around the country.

Lisa Rangi is one of many who rely on stores like Best 4 Less, Gold Coin, or Dollar Kingdom, for purchasing costumes for her 55 Mcfizzys choir kids at Fitzroy School in New Plymouth.

"I have to do it reasonably cheaply because there's so many of them. Stuff might look cheap up close but on stage, it can look fantastic."

Rangi says she tried going to other stores, such as Spotlight, but it would cost $100 to get red hair ribbon for the girls whereas she could get it at Best 4 Less for $2.

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"You just can't compare."

SUPPLIED Performing arts teacher Lisa Rangi gets all the costumes for her Mcfizzys Choir from dollar stores.

Although Kiwis love a bargain, the shops aren't popping up from an overwhelming demand for plastic flowers and birthday balloons but as a result of racist employer attitudes, immigration specialist and sociologist Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley says.

"Many employers still do not see immigrants as a preferred source of labour. When we did surveys with employers in Auckland, they tended to put school leavers and immigrants very low on their preferred list of employees. They see it as a problem and a cost."

In June the NZ Herald reported Indian migrant Faiaaz Contractor had gone from being a petrol pump attendant to a financial business development manager and believed it was because he changed his name to Frank.

An AUT University study found migrants are changing names to sound more Kiwi to increase their chances of finding employment.

And when they can't find employment migrants open their own stores at a low cost to take control of their destiny, Spoonley says.

"There will be parts of the retail sector which will have significant migrants like food, low cost retail, dairies, and franchises. You don't need a large initial capital outlay and don't need high levels of english.

David Unwin/Fairfax NZ. Professor Paul Spoonley said a lot of employers see migrants as a problem and a cost.

"It's a way of getting control of your work in New Zealand.

"They come as skilled migrants and then move to self employment."

Spoonley explains that when applying for a skilled migrant visa, applicants get points for their education and experience and then additional points if they've got a job offer.

"That tends to filter out people that are not likely to get a job in their field in New Zealand.

"When they get here either the job they've been offered is not up to their expectations or they don't get a job and an income which is appropriate for their experience and qualifications.

"What you tend to see is a movement out of that initial job within the first three to five years."

SIMON O'CONNOR/STUFF Geetha Kutty co-ordinator of Migrant Connections Taranaki said employment in New Zealand was very difficult for migrants.

Co-ordinator of Migrant Connections Taranaki Geetha Kutty says employment in New Zealand is very difficult for migrants.

"Unemployment is a big issue for migrants when they come and their expectations are very high but they're not getting what they want so they look into other options."

Kutty says the Immigration New Zealand website provides details on how to start a business as small business investments are very reasonable.

"If you start a business you come under the business category, even if it is a small business, that will give you a foot in the door to getting permanent residency."

Kutty said the language barrier was a big part of what was holding migrants back from good opportunities.

Kutty, who migrated from India 20 years ago, gives cultural workshops to companies and the Western Institute of Technology to help bridge the gap.

"Culturally, work ethics are very different. Both sides have to integrate and accept the communication and understanding of how things work."

Assistant manager of Dollar Kingdom in New Plymouth Arpit Sharma, also from India, was a banker back home but says he struggled to find work when he arrived in New Zealand three and a half years ago.

GRANT MATTHEW/STUFF Dollar Kingdom on Devon St W in New Plymouth is one of five of the franchise in New Zealand.

"There's always a problem for migrants, they can't do any job they want, it's difficult for them."

Sharma came to New Zealand on a student visa to study business and almost two years ago got the job with Dollar Kingdom, which is owned by Chinese immigrants in Auckland who own five stores around the country.

"It is nice, I'm a people person. I've been in retail and banking and that's what I've been through. I like this kind of work."

HK Lee, owner of the $2 Things franchise, which has 14 stores around the country, migrated to New Zealand from South Korea with his parents 17 years ago aged 14 and is now a New Zealand citizen.

"When we got to New Zealand, the first few years were really tough because my parents couldn't find a permanent job so they did cash jobs here and there mainly because of the language barrier," he says.

"We came with some savings because my dad was doing share markets and stuff, so we could support ourselves."

Lee says a lot of his staff are immigrants who are trying to get residency and were highly skilled back in their country.

"It's a bit of a deterrent to even apply for a job somewhere because they know they won't get it. So they don't even try.

SIMON O'CONNOR/STUFF Taranaki president of the Chinese Association Betty Leung thinks racism is worse now than 20 years ago.

"They end up in the sushi shops, dollar stores, and restaurants."

Taranaki president of the New Zealand Chinese Association Betty Leung said she found people were more racist.

"In the last 20 years there are lots and lots of immigrants coming into the country, too many, and there's bound to be some bad ones, some black sheep among them. And also some dodgy immigration agents providing them with dodgy qualification certificates so I don't blame employers for not trusting.

"You do find people are quite agitated sometimes when they meet an outsider that will give you comments like 'why don't you go home' and that sort of thing."

Former New Plymouth District Mayor, and self-confessed recovering racist, Andrew Judd says New Zealand's racism stems from not having a sense of our own culture. ​

"I don't mean in terms of rubgy, buzzy bees, tip top ice cream etcetera, I mean in terms of cultural values.

GRANT MATTHEW/STUFF The original $2 Shop opened in New Plymouth in 1994 by Brian Salmon.

"If we don't identify culturally ourselves how on earth will we understand others."

Judd is often met with resistance as he's well-known for campaigning for Māori wards and having recently debated the issue with Don Brash on Māori TV.

He says New Zealanders struggle to have a mature conversation about culture and race and haven't managed to sort biculturalism let alone multiculturalism.

"I hear from other nationalities that 'since we arrived here we were stunned, New Zealand is really racist'. We just don't see it ourselves, we don't talk about it."

GRANT MATTHEW/STUFF Former mayor of New Plymouth Andrew Judd said New Zealanders struggled to have a mature conversation about race and culture.

And if the country wants to be welcoming to all who arrive on the shores of the land of the long white cloud, it's going to take some work, from every Kiwi, to understand other cultures, he says.

"By taking some effort to learn we are so much richer if we understand, celebrate and respect our differences."