Melbourne Shopping
If you think of the best shopping in Australia, Melbourne shopping immediately springs to mind. Melbourne is a shopper's dream come true – it almost seems that the main reason Melbourne exists is to hold all of the established designer, radical new label and chic future labels in one location.
It could also have something to do with the Melbourne weather - a wonderfully cool climate where time spent indoors in one of the many shopping centres in Melbourne, browsing through the latest fashions, is a very tempting pastime.
So what makes Melbourne shopping so special? It could be the fact that every known major fashion designer in the world has a little boutique nook hidden somewhere in amongst Melbourne's laneways or shopping malls. Names like Saba, Oroton, Peter Alexander, G-star, Satch, Morrissey, Fat, Akira, Lisa Ho, Tommy Hilfiger, Versace and many others, you'll find in Melbourne, Victoria.
However, shopping in Melbourne is not just about high fashion. It is about exquisite fresh produce, unique gifts and one-off pieces of jewellery. It is about bargain shopping and food trails. It is about finding the hidden treasures, sometimes alone and sometimes with a guide. There are shopping tours in Melbourne to suit every taste and budget (and yes, there is even a chocolate shopping tour!)
With so much to choose from, where do you start? Well, you could start at Myer on Bourke Street, Australia's largest single department store. Another idea is to pick up a map of Melbourne from the Visitors Centre at Federation Square in Swanston Street, check the locations of all the other Melbourne shopping centres including Chadstone and Highpoint shopping centres - then get ready to shop!
