Shopping in Sydney
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FEATURED
Queen Victoria Building
The magnificent QVB takes up a whole block and boasts nearly 200 shops on five levels. It’s a High Victorian masterpiece – without doubt Sydney’s most beautiful shopping centre. Tenants of note include Herringbone, Opal Fields and Victoria’s Basement.
reviewed
- All shopping
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Bookshop Darlinghurst
This outstanding bookshop specialises in gay and lesbian tomes, with everything from queer crime and lesbian fiction to glossy pictorials and porn. A diverting browse, to say the least (hmm…which would look better on my coffee table: the Big Book of Breasts or the Big Penis Book?).
reviewed
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B
The Rocks Market
Under a long white canopy, the 150 stalls at the weekend market are a little on the tacky side of the tracks (opals, faux Aboriginal art etc) but are still worth a gander. The Friday 'Foodies Market' is more fulfilling (and filling).
reviewed
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C
Original & Authentic Aboriginal Art
This trustworthy gallery specialises in works from the Central and Western Deserts, Arnhem Land, the Kimberley, Queensland, New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. There is info available on the artists, and some more unusual stuff for sale, such as painted glass and traditional sand paintings preserved on canvas.
reviewed
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D
Red Eye Records
Entering this red-walled rock refuge is like waking up inside a huge, hungover eyeball. The shelves are stocked with a rampaging collection of classic, rare and collectable records, CDs, crass rock T-shirts, books, posters and music DVDs. New music is at the York St branch.
reviewed
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Queen Victoria Building
The magnificent QVB takes up a whole block and boasts nearly 200 shops on five levels. It’s a High Victorian masterpiece – without doubt Sydney’s most beautiful shopping centre. Tenants of note include Herringbone, Opal Fields and Victoria’s Basement.
reviewed
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F
Strand Arcade
With its stained-glass windows and iron-lacework balconies, this quirky centre makes for a truly atmospheric shopping trip. Built in 1892, this is the city's only Victorian arcade to survive in its original form and it rivals the QVB in the ornateness stakes. Three floors of designer fashions, Australiana and old-world coffee shops will make your short cut through here considerably longer. Top Australian designers commune and collude on level one: Leona Edmiston, low-cut, butt-hugger jeans from Bettina Liano, devilishly daring gear from Wayne Cooper, Sydney’s best swimwear from Zimmermann and fishnets and flounce from Alannah Hill. Jeweller Love & Hatred is also here.
reviewed
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G
Westfield Bondi Junction
Vast. That’s the only word to describe Australia’s flashest shopping mall. Expect to get lost; the space-time continuum does funny things as you explore the 438 stores set over six levels. It’s even worse in the underground car park.
Local fashion outlets include branches of Calibre, Oxford, Sass & Bide, Zimmermann and Leona Edmiston, alongside the big internationals such as Hugo Boss, Armani and G Star. Australia’s two big department stores – Myer and David Jones – do battle here, along with Jurlique, Mecca Cosmetica and RM WIlliams. Plus there are cinemas, bars, supermarkets, food courts…
reviewed
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H
Penny Arcade
This unusual concept store from well-known Sydney designer Michael Bracewell brings together his own label and vintage women's clothes he's sourced from Paris and London. It then adds to the mix a funky collection of retro furniture, particularly sought-after Danish and Australian pieces. You'll find straight-up Bracewell stores at Westfield Bondi Junction and 274 Oxford St, Paddington, and a factory outlet in Market City .
reviewed
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Holy Moley
You can’t miss this one: its murals of Bob De Niro in Taxi Driver and Jack Nicholson axing down the door in The Shining are the first things you see as you exit Newtown station. Inside it’s all spunky-punky T-shirts, studded belts, baby-doll dresses and sexy lingerie. ‘Don’t be shy!’ say the girl staff, ‘You can come in – we’ve got bras on.’
reviewed
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J
Bonsai Exotique
OK, so maybe you won’t be able to fit a foot-high, $7500 miniature Japanese maple from 1978 in your luggage, but this shop is amazing to check out even if you don’t buy anything. Japanese temple tunes caress the airwaves as you wander between diminutive 1994 Rhodesian wisterias and 1979 Himalayan cedars, while earnest staff issue instructions on preventing fungal infections in root systems.
reviewed
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K
Enlightened Elephant
This progressive pachyderm scores high on the feel-good scale, selling ‘gifts that give twice’: intricately beaded toys, jewellery, coasters, beaded beer cans and bags constructed from recycled car tires are all made by HIV-positive and impoverished women in South Africa, Bangladesh and East Timor. All are sourced from not-for-profit community-based groups that channel money directly to the artisans.
reviewed
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Myer
At seven storeys, Myer (formerly Grace Bros) is one of Sydney’s largest stores and a prime venue for after-Christmas sales. It’s marginally less swanky than David Jones (the difference between Jennifer Hawkins and Miranda Kerr), but you’ll still find plenty of high-quality goods and some slick cafes. There’s another branch at Westfield Bondi Junction.
reviewed
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M
Wayne Cooper
reviewed
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Orson & Blake
Sydney’s most stylin’ homewares emporium will make your house look cool even if you’re not – everything from notepads to garden statues at the height of chic. Head upstairs for clothes by top-notch Australian and Kiwi designers, plus opulent scarves, handbags and jewellery. The branch in Surry Hills has a cafe, more furniture and kooky books.
reviewed
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O
Title
Offbeat and downbeat, Title is a left-leaning book and music store focusing on distinct pop-cultural streams, seemingly determined at random (but probably at the owner’s whim – how very High Fidelity ). Jazz, hip hop, Latin, classical, electronica and soul CDs and vinyl shoulder up next to imported Neal Cassady biographies and Courtney Love’s diary.
reviewed
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P
Leona Edmiston
Leona Edmiston knows frocks – from little and black to whimsically floral or all-out sexy. Her exuberantly feminine, flirtatious and fun designs are cut from the best cotton, silk and jersey fabrics in colours that range from luscious, sophisticated reds to pinstripes and polka dots. Also at Westfield Bondi Junction, Westfield Sydney, Chifley Plaza and the Strand Arcade.
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Hogarth Galleries
A cultural beacon in an obscure Paddington laneway, Hogarth has supported and promoted Aboriginal art since 1972. Honouring established artists and sourcing up-and-comers, Hogarth exhibits contemporary dot paintings, basketry, framed prints, fabrics, spears and didgeridoos. From Oxford St take Shadforth St, turn right onto Walker Lane, then right again to enter from the side lane.
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Iain Dawson Gallery
This hip new gallery specialises in emerging Australian artists (Hugh Ford, Miranda Skoczek) in their first years of professional artistry. Sculptors, photographers, painters and screen printers – buy 'em now before they make it big!
reviewed
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Herringbone
Combining Australian design with Italian woven fabrics, Herringbone produces something surprisingly English-looking – beautiful men’s and women’s shirts with crisp collars and bright colours. When the stock market went south in 2008, suit sales took a king hit, but the 'Bone boys have somehow endured.
reviewed
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Gould’s Book Arcade
Possibly the world’s scariest secondhand bookstore: the floor-to-ceiling racks and stacks threaten to bury you under a tonne of Stalinist analysis. All manner of musty out-of-print books are stocked, with the owner’s leftie leanings displayed along one very large wall. Cassettes, records and video tapes, too (VHS and Beta!).
reviewed
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Martin Browne Fine Art
The clientele here tends to be more bourgeois than bohemian, but it’s nice to know that there’s still art in the famous Yellow House. Focusing on the contemporary, Browne represents several prominent Australian and international artists. ‘It’s not just about image-making, ’ says a surly sexagenarian in the doorway.
reviewed
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V
Done Art & Design
Ken Done is like George Michael – he peaked in the ’80s but he just won’t go away. His optimistic, colourful images of Sydney icons are primed for the tourist market: they’re emblazoned on everything from T-shirts to handbags. Strewth Ken, not another Opera House mouse pad… For more, check out his nearby gallery.
reviewed
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Gleebooks
Generally regarded to be Sydney’s best bookshop. The aisles are packed with politics, arts and general fiction, and staff really know their stuff. Check its calendar for author talks and book launches. Children’s and secondhand books are at their other store.
reviewed
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100% Mambo
Bold, off-the-wall, comic-bookish graphics adorn street-, skate- and surfwear for men and women at this popular store. Mambo artist and musician Reg Mombasa is a local legend - he even designed the shirts for the Australian Olympic team in 2000. Expect a wide range of goodies (including watches, backpacks and coffee table books). Also at 80 The Corso, Manly.
reviewed
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Y
House of Priscilla
Not only is Priscilla the queen of the desert, she also has her own boutique – not bad for a cinematic bus. Run by some of the city’s leading drag artistes, Priscilla is the place for feathered angel wings and boas, naughty nurse outfits, Beyoncé wigs, kinky thigh-high boots and sequinned frocks to fit front-row forwards. Very camp women also welcome.
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