Melbourne Places » shopping

Tarlo & Graham – view their windows as you stroll Chapel Street

Melbourne — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:46:35 +0000

Tarlo and Graham at the Windsor end of Chapel Street offer a great visual feast with their windows.

Strolling around the Windsor end of Chapel Street is always fun but what draws me back time and time again are the windows of Tarlo and Graham.
I find I’m drawn on a weekly basis just to check them out.

They don’t always change weekly but another view gives another perspective and sometimes I miss something on the first
viewing and even on the second. These objet d’art and the style of the interiors they suggest, are a sort of industrial meets the…. well the
macabre. They may not be everyone’s idea of home sweet home but it is great fun to view.

The windows vary which is what makes them so fascinating. These colourful wool rugs appeared during the cold winter months.

William Tarlo and Philip Graham opened their shop about 6 years ago. They said in a recent interview that their aim was to provide an exciting and stimulating environment focusing on the unusual, exotic and collectable. Check out their website to see what they mean.

Where:-
Tarlo & Graham
60 Chapel Street
Windsor – phone 9521 2221

Opening hours:-
Monday to Saturday 12pm – 6pm
Sunday 12pm to 4pm
Of course their windows are open for viewing 24/7

Getting there: -
Train:-
The Sandringham Line to Windsor Station They are opposite – on the corner of Chapel and Mcilwrick Street
79 Tram:-
This tram runs from St Kilda East to Richmond along Chapel Street.

Website:-

http://www.tarloandgraham.com/home.html

Salvos move to Carlisle Street, St Kilda and take on a new look.

Melbourne — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:00:22 +0000

The say good things come in small packages and the St Kilda, Salvation Army Opportunity Shop is proof of this. They have downsized. In doing so they have created a much better outlet in Carlisle Street than the previous one on the corner of Inkerman Street and St Kilda Road.

That huge rambling and messy warehouse on the corner of Inkerman Street and St Kilda Road has closed. The site has turned into a bike emporium.

The new shop in Carlisle has style compared with the old one and they have cut down on their stock. I always believed that there was so much ‘stuff’ in the old warehouse no one would be able say exactly what was in there.

The new store has added style to a Salvo browse. The shop is laid ‘out’. The dressing rooms are no longer a sort of curtained box, designer gear is in the front when you walk in.

Shoes are ordered on racks and someone keeps them tidy.

Home wares tend to be colour coded for example there is a shelf of blue. Books are newer – less knocked about, It feels cleaner and there are less of the things that no one is ever going to buy. It also feels as if the place is dusted sometimes – perhaps regularly.

I have been told they are charging more that they did in the old warehouse. This could apply to their designer gear although my black Country Road singlet was $5.00.

Last time I was there they had a piano, which seemed odd because the shop next door is a piano shop. I was hoping some one in the large browsing crowd would play it. If they did it was after I left. I also noticed some crutches in one corner should you ever need any.

The Salvos, St Kilda:-
Opposite the City of Port Phillip Town Hall in Carlisle Street.

Opening hours:-
Monday to Wednesday 9.00am to 5.00pm
Thursday to Friday 9.00 to 7.00pm
Saturday 9.00a, to 5.00pm

Getting there:-
Trams No 3 or No 16
Get off at the stop on the corner of St Kilda Road and Carlisle Street.

The Garden of Eden in Albert Park

Melbourne — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:52:57 +0000

Melbourne is a city of public gardens and parks but sometime it’s nice to soothe the soul in a Melbourne place that is more like our own courtyard; if we are lucky enough to have one.

The Garden of Eden Nursery in Albert Park is a Melbourne place where you can recharge your batteries and dream about what you could do in your outdoor space.

It is a place to stop off, wander about and dream. For a while you can imagine that the winding paths and the secluded nooks are your own.

The staff will talk to you about the plants and they are knowledgeable and know what they are talking about. They also let you wander and daydream.

The building is part of the old Albert Park Railway station so while your musing on how to get that metal arch onto your balcony and then entwine the structure with plants, the 96 tram will slide into the station, doors open, then close again and take off . You have seen nothing because a block of wonderful trees and bamboo has obscured the mundane from view.

When I work in the area and need time out I pop in and soak up the atmosphere. And sometimes I find it pleasant to get off the tram, browse and then pick up a later one. They run frequently on the 96 route.

The Garden of Eden has been there for about 20 years so it is no wonder there are some well established permanent plants.

The staff is interested in sustainable gardens and drought resistant plants and there is a home-ware section in part of the old station that they share with the Railway Antiques and cafe.

I like their garden sculptures and the way they display them making this Melbourne place an oasis in which to escape the everyday world.

The soul soothing experience of the Garden of Eden nursery is free – you can just wander about. It is of course a commercial enterprise but no one stops you absorbing the ambiance.

Garden of Eden
365 Ferrars Street,
Albert Park
Phone 9696 0551

Opening Hours:-
9.00 to 5.30 daily

Getting there:-
The 96 tram to the Albert Park Station

There is free parking on Ferrars Street
You will recognize The Garden of Eden by the bright coloured buckets hanging outside.

Rupert Bunny Exhibition – The Ian Potter Centre – Federation Square – CBD

Melbourne — Thu, 13 May 2010 09:24:25 +0000

Rupert Bunny is an Australian Artist who having been born here in Melbourne left for the cosmopolitan world of London and Paris. You can imagine how different life in Europe was at the beginning of the 20th century to life in Melbourne or any Australian city. His paintings depict it.

Rupert had grown up in an affluent household and learned to speak French and German fluently. He became much better known in Paris for his art than in the country of his childhood. He made a good living in France.

The exhibition at the Ian Potter Gallery at Federation Square is a very comprehensive look at his work, covering the different styles that evolved over the years

Rupert Bunny has become a news item over the last few weeks. His exhibition opened at the Ian Potter Centre in Federation Square and a painting of Rupert Bunny’s that was stolen 19 years ago was found in a house in East Malvern and was seized by the police during an early morning raid. The painting is called Girl in Sunlight and it belongs to my favourite era of his paintings – the Belle Epoque - meaning beautiful era

He excelled at painting beautiful women in beautiful frothy clothes showing a graceful and languid life style with a background of colour, texture, light and warmth from the Belle Epoque period.

These are the paintings I enjoyed. These are the paintings I bought post cards of. The NVG shop on the ground floor has a French inspired display in their window and you can buy a rose or poppy parasol/umbrella.

Those of us with a touch of the Francophile in us can’t resist.

A bag decorated with poppies is just another beautiful reminder of that time and place in history.

Here is an example of a completely different style that he painted. It reminds me of some of the Indian miniatures I have seen.

Rupert Bunny Exhibition:-
The Ian Potter Centre
Federation Square
CBD Melbourne

Opening Times:-
10.00am to 5.00pm Daily
The Exhibition lasts until July 4th

Admission:-
Adult $15.00
Concession $12.00
Child (ages 5-15) $7.50
Family $42.00
NGV Member $7.50
NGV Family $21

The Esplanade Market, St Kilda is worth a visit

Melbourne — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:00:33 +0000

Summertime in Melbourne is market time and markets spring up all over the place – Pre-Christmas I had great success with some Christmas presents at a market set up in the Elwood School grounds.

This flurry of summer markets led me to forget the markets that just keep-on-keeping-on.

The Esplanade Market in St Kilda has been keeping on since 1970. And some of the stall holders have been there for most of that time.

The market runs from Luna Park along The Esplanade to Fitzroy Street. On my first trip to Melbourne, some years ago, I explored it with a family member and was fascinated. I still have a pair of ear rings I bought on that visit.

This time these brooches caught my eye.

The Market advertises itself as a “Makers’ Market Place”. That is the stall holders must be directly involved in the production of the items they are selling. This makes for an interesting mix.

There is Jena Bedson’s pottery that she describes as ‘comic art’.

Much of the merchandise is familiar to me, in that some of the stalls have been there for years. Obviously the ones that stay the distance are quality and offer something the customers want. Calypsoflash who sell pewter jewelery tell me they have been there for 38 years. They now have their own website to display their creative pieces.

These architectural cards are stylish and beautiful.

There is a huge tourist-browsing population and many stall holders cater for them. For example Matt Irwin’s photographs are there and have been since my first visit in the 1990’s. Then I sent my mother a post card depicting a striking black and white photo of one of Melbourne’s trams. She still has it and they are still on sale.

These magnets were doing good business – I bought 3 for $10.00. They were delighting children who were spending $3.50 to go home with something cute and useful. The stall holder creates the whole magnet from the painted design to the finished article.

The market is vibrant and most of the stall holders friendly. They will talk about their crafts and discuss in detail how they make the items. If you are a craft person you can find inspiration – a sort of “Wow, I could do that!” But many crafts are time-consuming and for these people making and selling their wares a way of life.

Getting there:-

Trams 16, 3A and 79 to stop 31

Tram 96 to stop 138

Times:-

Sundays ( all year round) 10.00am to 5.00pm.

Carlisle Street in St Kilda East is evolving. Check out the Carlisle Street Bazaar

Melbourne — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:22:37 +0000

The Carlisle Street Bazaar opened just before Christmas adding another retail experience to shopping in the piece of Carlisle Street around the Balaclava Rail Station.
This Carlisle Street Bazaar replaces a store where I often browsed. It was one of those stores that covered an eclectic range merchandise – clothes, furniture, home ware, jewelery, gifts. All this appeared to be individually chosen to give a cohesion to the store. This space has now morphed into the Carlisle Street Bazaar. It is as if the original store has re-invented itself and presented a new face to the world, the cohesion has gone but the atmosphere has livened up.

To me it is an improvement. For one thing the space is lighter and brighter. I found the old space rather gloomy. The variety is better and it is more fun to browse.

Stock moves too. There was a hand created metal pig and sheep when I first walked into the Bazaar and a few days later they had gone. “Snapped up,” I was told. They still have smaller roosters from the same artist. They are the sort of patio/garden object that lift your spirits and cause you to smile.

So far the Carlisle Street Bazaar have been a constantly changing visual feast – new clothes, new displays, new bric-a-brac.

At this point the venture looks successful and it will be interesting to watch it evolve. I like the original art and would like to see more creative works for sale.

To discuss hiring space: – phone 0411598411.
Opening hours: -

Monday to Saturday 10.00am to 6.00pm. The Bazaar closes at 5.00pm on Sunday.

Getting there:

Trams – 12, 3, going along Carlisle Street, first stop past St Kilda Road. 67 Tram get off at the corner of Carlisle and St Kilda Road or a 78 that runs from Richmond to the St Kilda East end of Chapel Street.

Train – Sandringham line to Balaclava Stration

The Myer Christmas Window Video

Melbourne — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:59:26 +0000

I was looking up the Olivia helps with Christmas story and came across this video of the Myer Christmas window. If you can’t make it down this year here is the next best thing.

The Myer Christmas window video, staring the book Olivia helps with Christmas

St Kilda Beach Night Market – Thursdays

Melbourne — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:22:50 +0000

The St Kilda Beach Night Market has become an annual event on the St Kilda calendar.

I love night markets. The first one I explored was in Yogyakarta in Indonesia. There was magic in the air with the music and colours but I felt uneasy being in such a crowded place with so many dark corners. That evening was fun with fascinating things to buy and no harm came to us. The memory of the light–filled night and all the buzz has given me a strange nostalgia for outdoor evening markets so I turn up every year at the St Kilda Beach Night Market.

It is held in O’Donnell Gardens where a shady corner is not threatening – it is part of the evening ambiance. Of course with summer and daylight saving it is a long time before it is dark and there are any shadows to create murky corners.
The Market starts at 5.10pm. Last Thursday the first one for the year and stalls opened on time and the cooks fired up the food.

The market is held on Thursdays and last Thursday was rather grey and overcast with rain later. The market prides itself on opening rain or fine. It was just bad luck that last Thursday brought some rain. If you planned to go and it looks like rain – still go everyone else will be there.

Woxwaste shows ingenious ways to use waste – the waste paper baskets are wonderful. There is something rather satisfying about putting our rubbish in a container made from rubbish.

It’s an eclectic market that shows off the St Kilda area and Melbourne’s diversity of cultures This mixture makes for a friendly warm and comfortable browse, and nosh. There is music too.

The food is interesting and unpretentious the stalls fascinating and the crowd interesting. Remember the music.

I will be back this Thursday to try the Argentinean barbecue.

Getting there:-

Trams 16 and 79 to stop 31

Tram 96 to stop 138

Times-:

From 5.10pm

December – 17th, 21st, and 28th

January – 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th

February – 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th

Myer’s Christmas windows – Olivia Helps With Christmas

Melbourne — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:08:59 +0000

Christmas tradition is always good and this year the Melbourne tradition of the Myer Christmas window display is a winner – one of the best I’ve seen – perhaps even the best. It is the story from the book “Olivia Helps Santa” by Ian Falconer.

If you have any young children in your family you’ll know that the heroine of Ian Falconer’s story is a pig, her family and the family dog.

Not having young children in my life I wasn’t familiar with the cute and enthusiastic Olivia but I immediately fell in love with her.

The windows are the book come to life and it is joy to view with or without children to accompany you.
You will come away smiling and feeling that all is good with the world. Olivia is endearing and the story is narrated by Dame Edna Everage which adds some local input to the charm of it all.
I thought Olivia and her family were so lovable that I found myself in the local bookshop browsing through the Olivia books – there’s a series – and wishing I had an excuse to buy a copy. I thought afterward that I didn’t need an excuse I could just buy a copy for my own pleasure. I will do that.
This animated, energetic pig who is full of ideas, raises grins and chuckles and enthusiasm from the crowd and the night I was there a sort of fellowship was created among us as we journeyed through Olivia’s Christmas.

I saw the show in the early evening, after the store closed and the crowd was manageable especially with the ropes controlling the direction viewers need to take.

Useful Information

Myer’s Christmas windows in Bourke Street, Melbourne’’s CBD are there until the 4th of January.

They operate from 7.30am until 1am – I have yet to see them in the dark but I am planning to. The illuminations should be even more striking and beautiful.

Have fun at the Minh Phat Asian Supermarket, Richmond -

Melbourne — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:34:44 +0000

The Minh Phat Supermarket in Richmond makes a lie of the saying “one supermarket is much like the nex”. The isles here are not full of familiar brands,or things we have seen a hundred times before. Minh Phat Supermarket, in Nicholson Street just off Victoria Street, Richmond is different – very different.

I’d been shopping and enjoying the vibes of Victoria Street for some time before I found it. That sounds silly because now I know where it is, I can’t understand how I missed it. But I did. There’s an empty lot next door so perhaps that helps to hide it from view.

Visiting Minh Phat is fun and stimulating. There are things like dried and preserved Persimmon, jars of Korean Kim Chi and lotus seeds, fried and preserved parsnip. There is a whole isle of teas. Packets of teas and teas you can buy by the scoop – dried flowers, tiny rose buds and chrysanthemum.

Fresh vegetables too. Everything you would expect in a green grocery section and then there are things you wouldn’t expect – bunches of Chives in flower and garlic shoots.

It is impossible to know what some of the things are as there is not a word of English on the packaging. It is a bit like a game of chance. Try to work out what it is, buy it and find out if you were right when you get it home.

You can buy cooking utensils and crockery.

I have experimented, successfully, with a Thai Dessert – rather like an instant pudding but more delicious and everything is written in English – Thai Tapioca Pearl and Black Bean in Coconut Milk. Classy and the flavours grow on you and you need to go back for more.

Minh Phat Supermarket, 178 -180 Victoria Street, or alternatively 2 – 8 Nicholson Street, Richmond. It is just around the corner from Victoria Street, next to a vacant lot.

Getting there:

The 109 Tram from Port Melbourne goes along Collins Street – through the CBD and then along Victoria Street in Richmond.
The 78 Tram runs the full length of Chapel Street from St Kilda East, through Prahran into Church Street and terminates at the corner of Church Street and Victoria Street, Richmond. This is a great tram if you live along the route.

There’s one hour meter parking in Victoria Street.