God there are some wonderful shops tucked away. I have time only to mention a couple. There’s Loose Leaf, a florist and indoor plant emporium, who have written a book about their exploits and made this:
Then there’s Smart Alec, a men’s hat shop on Gertrude Street presided over by Michael Albert:
Next door is Scally & Trombone, the old Brunswick Street stalwart, where women can buy hats, and vintage bathing suits.
There’s a billiard table shop, Harry Evans & Sons, which has been operating since the 1890s and is now run by Harry’s great-grandson:
And the utterly amazing Tarlo & Graham (more pix here):
For more prosaic shopping, obviously you’re a 5 minute walk from the heart of Victoria Street’s South East Asian precinct (there are as many Korean, Japanese, and Thai restaurants as Vietnamese these days). It also has two always open super-busy fishmongers where the fish and prawns are half the price they are in shopping centres (we always just walk down and buy seafood immediately before we cook it, and we’re somewhat pescatarian), inexpensive butchers, and every Asian ingredient known to man.
We wander down to bring back Bánh mì (Franco-Vietnamese pork rolls) for lunch most weekends: so good. I could go on about Victoria Street, but I won’t because it is the one bit of Abbotsford that all Melbournians know. It is really useful to be able to cook from Asian cookbooks and know that the ingredients called for even by hard-core books will be only a 5 minute walk away.
You can drive to Victoria Market (free parking if you’re early enough). It takes 15 mins if you beat the traffic. Occasionally we take the train up to Preston Market which is in a way even better: 15 minute trip to the station right at the market, and no parking hassles. Every fortnight one of the Collingwood Children’s Farm Farmers Market or the Abbotsford Convent’s Slow Food Melbourne Farmers Market is on and there is no better shopping in Melbourne than a stroll there, breakfast at the Farm or Convent cafes and an outdoor shop.
In terms of supermarkets, oddly enough we often drive to Lygon Court in Carlton to shop on the weekend: something about the co-location of free parking, a good supermarket, Readings, the Nova, and, most importantly, Brunetti’s. Surprisingly it’s only about a 10 minute drive on a weekend morning, which is also true of the trip shooting along Studley Park Road (by far the best way to go travelling anywhere East) to Leo’s in Kew (co-located with Laurent).
But you could also shop in one of the two supermarkets on Smith St (I think the Woolworths has a raffish charm with its period facade, free rooftop parking and eclectic clientele, but Coles is huger and newer) both of which happen to be dangerously co-located with Huxtaburger and Gelato Messina.
Then there is:
- An IGA with bottleshop which you can always get a park right outside on the street. 700m away on Johnston St via Park St and its park, Gahan Reserve. I always check out the lovely art gallery next door.
- Victoria Gardens with its Ikea, Woolies, Kmart, and Toscano’s on Victoria Street (2 km, 6 mins drive if you don’t try to drive along Victoria Street and take the ‘long-cut’ instead). It’s one of the few shopping centres I don’t mind.
- The Hive on the corner of Nicholson and Victoria Streets (650 m), (where you can shop Aldi and Woolworths in one go, as well as an incredibly good Vietnamese run fruit, veg and indoor plant shop, Saigon Village). Actually, I quite like this shopping centre too.
- Finally if you want a 6km traffic- and intersection-free riverside drive in the countryside as the prelude to your shopping because you’ve been too busy to walk beside the Yarra: Biviano & Sons and A1 Bakery in High Street, Fairfield (a 17 minute drive by that scenic route). Sadly I only worked this out a few months ago, when looking at houses to buy in Alphington, but it’s just the best thing to do.
