HOT: The Social Studio, 128 Smith St, Collingwood

Fitzroy/Collingwood seems to be the hotbed of social enterprise businesses in Melbourne (see my review of restaurant Charcoal Lane), and in late 2009 another one opened around the corner from me – The Social Studio.
The Social Studio is a non-profit fashion studio space staffed by approximately 20 young members of Melbourne’s refugee community and overseen [...]

HOT Chat: Ashley Tell from Golden Palomino Vintage and Darling Clementine

Today’s HOT Chat is also a guest post by Poppy, a Melbourne blogger who I met at the Nuffnang Christmas Party and the author of Poppy Gets a Life (which you’ll see is a MEL: HOT Read). Poppy’s blog is all about her move off the corporate ladder into a job where she has the [...]

HOT: Angelucci 20th Century, 113 Smith St, Fitzroy

Smith Street has no shortage of cool vintage stores to browse (see reviews of Lost and Found Market and 84 Smith Street) and the latest addition is the Fitzroy outpost of Windsor shop Angelucci 20th Century.
For over 15 years the owner Dean has sourced vintage furniture from Denmark and France, flatpacked it for import and [...]

HOT: Launch of MEL: Heat Map

For those of you who may not have noticed yet, there’s a new little button on the top menu of MEL: HOT OR NOT -  MEL: Heat Map.
What’s that, you ask? Well, I have been spending my waking hours putting every review on MEL: HOT OR NOT onto a single map. So that means you [...]

HOT: Suzuki Night Market, Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

For me summer in Melbourne heralds long bright evenings, Moonlight Cinema and the Suzuki Night Market at Queen Victoria Market. Evidently I’m not alone as the night market has become a bit of a summer institution for young and old alike and in peak time (between 6-8pm) the crowds swell to almost uncomfortable levels.
Nevertheless, it’s [...]

HOT: 84 Smith Street, 84 Smith St, Collingwood

I love to catch up on my window-shopping at 84 Smith Street. This vintage collectables and furniture shop has a constant rotation of eye-catching items in its storefront, from a plastic drinks-serving robot to mid-century Danish dining chairs to old-fashioned metal filing cabinets. Wendy Dracoulis and her husband only sell pieces that they like and [...]

HOT: Melbourne Op Shop Tours (Part 2), Inner West, Williamstown to Footscray

Read Part 1 of the tour here.
Another quick train ride to Spotswood then St John’s Op Shop (612-614 Melbourne Rd, Spotswood). ‘Great variety of household goods’ is an accurate description, with ‘variety’ being the operative word. This is an OCD sufferer’s nightmare.

The rabbit warren of a shop was full of surprises – an extensive collection [...]

HOT: Melbourne Op Shop Tours, Inner West, Williamstown to Footscray

Fashionistas know that the surest way to score a one-of-a-kind outfit is to scour old shops and vintage stores. Melbourne Op Shop Tours helps you take up the op shop challenge by running small group (max 10 people) tours through various areas of Melbourne. What makes it different from other op shop tours is that [...]

HOT: Blackbird Summer Market, The Workers Club, corner of Brunswick St and Gertrude St, Fitzroy

For a while now Sydney has been running pub markets and now the trend is catching on in Melbourne. It’s a great idea – pubs are usually dead spaces during the day, so why not run up a few stalls inside and encourage people to shop, chat, have a beer and eat some pub grub.
The [...]

HOT: Marche Rouge Christmas Shopping Event, Salon 205, Level 2, Nicholas Building, 37 Swanston St, Melbourne

With Christmas only 22 days away, Melbourne is ramping up to a frenetic hive of shopping activity. With sales and markets sprouting up almost daily, it’s getting difficult for me to keep up!
One of the most aesthetically pleasing shopping experiences that I’ve attended recently has been Marche Rouge, a small pop-up market in the Nicholas [...]