They said lost trolleys and having the Rotorua Lakes Council return their trolleys was costing thousands of dollars.
Shoppers who did not have 50c coins on them were able to buy them at the checkouts.
Smaller wheeled baskets are still available without paying a bond.
The Rotorua Daily Post visited Kmart and spoke to shoppers about how they felt about the new initiative.
Most said they did not mind, some saying they had travelled overseas, where it was a common practice.
Rotorua shopper Vikki Wharerau said it was a sad state of affairs that people were stealing trolleys.
She said the new practice at Kmart did not bother her too much and she had seen it in Australia.
“I didn’t mind, but just having the 50 cents is a bit hit and miss.”
Kmart’s new trolley system was the subject of a post on a Rotorua social media page for mothers.
Most of the commenters said it was about time and was a good way to stop people from leaving trolleys all over the central city.
“Kmart has to pay a considerable amount of money when trolleys are found dumped. So let’s all stop moaning about paying 50 cents to use them. Unfortunately, many have ruined it for others,” one wrote.
Another was less impressed, saying: “I’m keen to protest this lol. I only use a trolley for my kids … What has this world come to where u [sic] have to pay to use a trolley to fill it up to BUY their stuff?”
The new system comes after the Rotorua Lakes Council adopted new bylaws in August aimed at improving tidiness and safety in the city centre.
Under the new waste bylaw, the council will collect abandoned trollies, with retailers given 24 hours to recover their property or face storage and delivery fees.
Rotorua ratepayers have shouldered bills as high as $5000 to remove as many as 260 abandoned shopping trolleys a month from inner-city streets.
The annual cost to enforce the new bylaw was estimated at $51,500. Some of this could be recovered through the fees.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
