Hydration drink Prime has recently hit Canterbury shelves, with shops profiteering off its young market.

Founded by YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI, the product hype is real, with shops selling out within hours of the product hitting the shelves.

One Kaiapoi store owner, selling it for $12.90 per bottle, told Chris Lynch Media he had heard of other stores selling it for $23, $24 each — “because they could”.

A Rangiora dairy, selling the 500ml Prime for $12.99 said they sold 80 cartons of the product on the first day of sale last week. Each carton holds 12 bottles.

A Kaiapoi mother of two told Chris Lynch Media that her son never asked for the product, thinking it was something you could not actually get in New Zealand, but had mentioned that one of his friends got some for his birthday and thought that was pretty cool. Then they found a bottle at their supermarket.

“We randomly came across some at our local New World — a green one, that was the lucky last bottle on the shelf. My son almost fell over and had the biggest grin on his face around the rest of the supermarket,” the Kaiapoi mother said.

“I don’t think the hype is about the drink at all but making the kids feel closer to someone famous in America — a long way away from New Zealand making the experience feel quite special,” she added.

Another Kaiapoi mother told Chris Lynch Media that her three children, ranging in ages from 8-11 wanted to try it cos Logan Paul and KSI rave about it, and saw a bunch of others trying it so it must be the “cool thing to do”.

Luckily, on a recent trip to Australia, they were able to try them there — at a more respectable price. “We bought them in Aussie and they ranged on clearance at like $1.50 to $4.50 a bottle,” the mum of three said.

“It was not delicious. It was disgusting, but the Blue Raspberry one was sort of OK but I don’t want it again. However, I want to wash the bottles and keep them,” she added.