Shopping in Melbourne
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Queen Victoria Market
Chaotic, friendly, multicultural – the Queen Victoria Market is one of the largest open-air markets in the southern hemisphere and the grand dame of all Melbourne markets. Over 600 traders hock their wares here and it’s been pushing trade for more than 125 years. You’ll find everything from perfectly ripe brie to perfectly rank moccasins. An organic corridor in the fruit and vegetable section is stocked with fresh produce grown without a hint of chemicals or pesticides. The bustling night market runs between late November and mid-February.
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GPO
GPO houses fabulous boutiques including Akira and Veronika Maine, plus the ABC shop.
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Prahran Market
A top-quality produce market, with several organic- produce stores (including an organic butcher), a fresh pasta shop, bountiful delis and a food court for grazing on the move.
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Metropolis
Lovely bookish eyrie with a particular focus on art, architecture, fashion and film. It also has some very special kids books and a desert-island discs selection.
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Brunswick St Bookstore
A Fitzroy fixture with contemporary titles, art, literature and design tomes, plus cosy seating.
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Melbourne Central
This shopping centre complex (with 300 stores, a cinema complex, bars and eateries) subsumed a number of Melbourne’s arcades and alleyways when it was built. It also houses a lead shot tower dating from 1889. The old brick chimney props incongruously beneath a great glass pyramid, a staid structure in a fast-moving retail environment. Ironically, the centre’s most recent redevelopment re-created the alleyways and arcades over which it was built only a decade or so before. New lanes, made to look old with bluestones, create café and retail precincts. It can be fiendishly noisy, confusing and characterless, but the scores of students who shop, eat and socialise here don’t…
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Marais
Calling something after a Parisian neighbourhood may smack of parochial insecurity, but happily this venture delivers as much subtle sophistication as its inspiration. Stealthily signposted on the secluded upper floor of the otherwise workaday Royal Arcade, the airy space is a delight, with raven-stained parquetry, glossy white panelled walls and witty fittings. The stock is challenging but elegant. International labels include Preen, Blaak and Balenciaga; fashion editor darlings Josh Goot and Toni Maticevski represent the locals.
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Jasper
In a city where coffee rivals football as 'the religion', many pray at the temple of Jasper. The smell of roasting beans lures you along Brunswick St and into these mouthwatering environs. Jasper selects the best coffee beans from around the world, with a heavy leaning towards organic and Fair Trade coffee, then roasts and blends them with heavenly results. You can pick up a take-home stash for the week, have a cup and a handmade chocolate in-house or fixate on the coffee machines and accoutrements.
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TL Wood
Teresa Liano has styled Melbourne’s best dressed behind the scenes for years. Her luscious label gives women what they really want: the loveliest silks and wools, and cuts that both flatter the female form and subtly demand attention. One of her soft knit scarves will keep you warm for years.The shop, which feels more like a very stylish front room, also has a wonderful range of jewellery by local artisans. There’s also a branch in the city centre.
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Eg Etal
With a collection of pieces from over 80 antipodean designers, this unique retail space holds many little treasures. It's a place where fishing wire and metal piping are precious metals, and where aesthetics and meaning are given equal consideration, with symbolic pieces preferred over the purely contrived. A second branch in Flinders Lane (9639 5111; basement, 167 Flinders Lane) exhibits gold and gem jewellery, as well as larger conceptual/exhibition work.
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Fat
The Fat girls’ empire has changed the way Melbourne dresses, catapulting a fresh generation of designers into the city’s consciousness. There’s an antifashion edge here, with labels that are more darkly interesting, witty and irreverent than glam. It also has a great range of kid’s wear and some of the best boy’s tees in town. There are also branches in the city centre and Fitzroy.
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Hudson
Stocking a range of local designs and handpicked items from Japan and the US, Hudson can be relied on to source modern, lo-fi clothes with a twist (think baby trucker caps or killer knee-high socks). Local artists are regularly showcased in the front window (a Gorillaz-style cartoon of 'The Hudsonettes' appears from time to time) and choose the decorative novelty sticky tape when gift wrapping. Go for the one with baby elephants - it's '70s cute.
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Hunter Gatherer
Run by the welfare organisation Brotherhood of St Laurence, Hunter Gatherer filters through its 26-odd op shops to bring you the cream of secondhand gear. It also stocks its own vintage-inspired label, designed by recent fashion graduates and guaranteed to be made without sweatshop labour. All profits go to programs to assist low-income families, the elderly and the unemployed. There’s also a branch in Fitzroy.
reviewed
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Gorman
Lisa Gorman makes everyday clothes that are far from ordinary: boyish but sexy shapes are cut from exquisite fabrics, pretty cardies are coupled with relaxed, organic tees. Jeans, jewellery and clogs will complete the look. The store is a modern fairytale in itself, part Scando forest, part secret attic filled with velvet butterflies and antique furniture. Also in the city centre and Prahran.
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Zomp
At sale time or on a Saturday afternoon there’s a thinly veiled air of hysteria in here; shoes can do it to the best of us. The range is the main draw: you can get anything from a pair of superb Italian boots that will cost most of a week’s wage to a pair of knock-off ballet flats or flip-flops for well under $100. There are also branches on Little Collins St and Flinders Lane.
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Le Louvre
Society lady Lillian Wightman founded this treasure in 1935; it’s now run by her daughter, the formidably fashionable Georgina Weir. This is not somewhere you come to rifle through the racks on a whim. Service is personal: sit on the sofa and frocks will be brought to you (much of the stock is imported with specific clients in mind). It may appear from another time, but the clothes themselves are often cutting edge.
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Flinders Way
There's a definite sense of theatre as you teeter down the sloped wooden entrance, and the cerebrally cool designers on offer (like Eley Kishimoto and Karen Walker) will turn heads off the racks too. Up the back, for the boys, are Tsubi and Rogan's subversive-lite T-shirts and distressed denim. Most compelling of all though are the sublime rare scents by L'Artisan Perfumier and Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle.
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Christine
The toile and tartan entrance of Christine Barro’s basement hints at the bold style within. Art doyennes and architects, Toorak types and club kids meet at this legendary shrine to precious wearables. Join them for the inspired mix of stalwarts (Sonia Rykiel, Etro, Longchamp) and locals such as Dhini and jeweller Adrian Lewis. Although the focus is on accessories, there’s also a select range of separates.
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Kleins
Every inch of Kleins is packed with oils and unguents, charming scents and irresistible potions. In this tiny paradise you can feed an Occitane addiction or smother yourself in divine local Aesop products (you must have the Resurrection hand balm). Friendly staff will help you to navigate the cornucopia and will even wrap your precious finds. If you're stuck southside, don't despair - a second store awaits in St Kilda.
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Shweshwe
Named for the ubiquitous waxed cloth of Africa, this enticing shop evokes the rhythm and pace of its owner’s birthplace. Look for contemporary fashion from Cape Town, as well as exclusive ranges from Brazilian and Swedish designers. Homewares are handcrafted and ethically sourced and include luxurious wool blankets, eye-catching toys, felt cushions that resemble smooth pebbles and Madagascan recycled-plastic screens.
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Chiodo
Chiodo subverts classic male fashion, so that army-style khaki shirts are deliciously embroidered with pink tulips. A business shirt will be perfect except for that inside-out piece, designed to reference the construction of garments. Chiodo is clever, cheeky and chic, and accessorises with fab local designers. The postmodern shop fitout (shirts displayed on a table made from stacks of shirts) is worth a squiz too.
reviewed
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TL Wood
Teresa Liano has styled Melbourne’s best dressed behind the scenes for years. Her luscious label gives women what they really want: the loveliest silks and wools, and cuts that both flatter the female form and subtly demand attention. One of her soft knit scarves will keep you warm for years.The shop, which feels more like a very stylish front room, also has a wonderful range of jewellery by local artisans.
reviewed
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Chronicles Bookshop
It's elbows in and neck out while looking for books among Chronicles' walls of tightly crammed titles. Contemporary fiction is the thing here, particularly Australian literature and crime fiction. Nonfiction specialities include travel and cooking. Savvy staff at this compact store can help find your perfect read. Or grab a card and pen and scrawl a greeting home from the recessed courtyard café next door.
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Zetta Florence
Zetta Florence is both a professional preservation-supplies retailer (with a clientele of photographers, artists and archivists) and a superstore for stationery tragics. Binders, folios and archive boxes are joined by covetable leather-bound notebooks, quality papers and envelopes, and tin boxes of postcards. You’ll find international brands like Cavallini, as well as local letterpress cards and kits.
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La Parisienne
A French interloper in this most Italian of streets, Parisienne specialises in small goods and take-home dishes that are authentically Gallic. Boudin blanc and noir, duck confit and its famous pâtés and terrines will not disappoint. It also does a nice range of bread and little pies that are perfect for picnic provisions, and keeps a range of evocatively packaged pantry items.
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