Shopping in Pacific
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Lost & Found Market
Housed in the shabby but definitely not chic remains of a legendary live venue, this market has a nice variety of vintage traders. You’ll find everything here from Penguin classics to Finnish enamelware to frill-front shirts that last saw the light of day at Shazza and Bazza’s wedding c 1973. On the last Friday of each month, the doors stay open until 10pm with a live soul DJ spinning discs.
reviewed
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Wayne Cooper
reviewed
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NGV Shop at NGV International
Although not of the same calibre as the great museum shops of the world (OK, London’s V&A or New York’s Met), this stylish retail space offers some well-designed and thoughtful show-based merchandise, specially mixed CDs, an obligatory but beautifully produced range of posters, as well as an erudite collection of books. Also at Ian Potter Centre: NGVA.
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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Manon
French homewares specialist Manon features pieces with a provincial earthiness and a contemporary twist. You’ll find lots of products you’ve not seen anywhere else before, as well as stylish staples such as Diptyque candles. The store is a little bit of a hike from the action, but all the more special in its wide corner Victorian shopfront. Also in Hawksburn and Armadale.
reviewed
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Hoss
Hoss has saved many a St Kilda-ite from I-need-a-new-outfit-by-6pm meltdown. There’s a great range of jeans, shirts, knitwear and, yes, party dresses, as well as menswear. It stocks locals but keeps the St Kilda–Bondi bonding going with an emphasis on Sydney labels. There’s another branch on Barkly St so you’re never far from a fashion fix.
reviewed
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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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Title
This cleverly designed corner store mixes things up with rare release CDs, including the complete Trojan catalogue, new local indie releases as well as a good collection of less-than-predictable world music artists. Its classic DVDs come in way-too-tempting box sets and there’s a small range of music books perfect for gifts. In-store music events happen upstairs from time to time too.
reviewed
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Shag
This shop is jam-packed with super stylist-ordained vintage pieces, including shoes, furs and bags (and often jam-packed with the girls that love them). Those in the know also snap up the well-priced collection of frighteningly fashion-forward new dresses, jackets and tops shipped from Hong Kong. There are also branches in the city centre and Fitzroy.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Tour Shop
Ownership of the land is the structure of Vanuatu society. Everything you touch, cycle over or swim in is owned by somebody. The Tour Shop has camping gear for hire, and Reza will give you a map of places you can camp - pay the owner when you arrive. The equipment can be taken to the outer islands, where many bungalow owners allow camping, and Tanna has Boita's Camping Ground.
reviewed
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market
The open-air market is interesting to walk through. It's very busy on Saturday, but colourful any day and you'll see piles of potatoes and exotic leafy greens as well as more familiar tomatoes, capsicums and avocados. Bilums and Highland hats are sold, as are spools of intensely colourful twines and strings used in bilum manufacture. Watch out for pickpockets.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Douglas & Hope
The window displays are sigh-inducing; the husband-and-wife owner’s singular style bursts brightly from this quintessentially Melbourne store. Cathy Hope creates vintage fabric quilts and other home accessories with a modern sensibility; Paul Douglas will see you right with a Princess Tina tee or a Ginger & Smart frock. There’s also a branch on Collins St.
reviewed
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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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Alannah Hill
Somehow greater than the sum of their (cheap-fabric and often slapdash, repetitive-cut) parts, the clothes of theatrical, ever-lippied Miss Hill have an enduring, widespread appeal. Her outré shops and even more outré runway shows draw on her gift for meta-narrative and her kookily conservative but oddly comforting vision of womanhood, which may explain the attraction.
reviewed
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Jasper Junior
You don’t need a wicked witch bearing lollies to lure in the little ones here; this stuffed-to-the-rafters toy emporium offers sweet sustenance for babes and big kids, from well-crafted wood to the odd bit of plastic, but undeniably cute, tat. Local babywear labels Pure Baby and Blink make lovely gifts. There’s also a branch on Bourke St.
reviewed
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Stock Liquidator
Come to this discount barn – usually known by its snappy acronym TSL (for ‘The’ Stock Liquidator) – to stock up on basics. You’ll find a huge range of Australia’s cherished cotton-knit label Bonds, including, of course, the iconic Chesty singlet, in sizes 000 to XXL, plus new-fangled basics like yoga pants and bandeau bikinis.
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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Kami
This shop does bookbinding as well as selling a large range of traditional high-quality paper from Japan and other countries by the roll. There are journals, photo frames, pencil holders and other household objects too, all made in the company’s Byron Bay studio. The riot of patterns that decks the walls is paradoxically soothing, as are the gracious staff.
reviewed
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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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Hercynia Silva
Artist and carpenter Michael Conole and partner Viveka de Costa’s exquisite shop is a little remote, but worth the time if you’re after a unique and beautiful object. There’s a mix of antique and custom-made wooden pieces ranging from the functional to the exquisitely decorative. Mike is often at work in the sunshine out the front of the shop.
reviewed