7 Best Shopping in Melbourne, Victoria

An elegant 19th-century shopping plaza with mosaic-tile floors, Block Arcade contains the venerable Hopetoun Tea Rooms--- serving high tea since 1892—jewelers including French Jewelbox, specialty Australian chocolatier Haigh's, the underground, long-standing record shop Basement Discs, Australian plant essences company Essensorie, Gewurzhaus spice merchant, and Australian By Design, hidden away on the third level (take the lift opposite the Hopetoun Tea Rooms).

Once the busiest east–west thoroughfare in the city, Bourke Street Mall is a pedestrian-only zone—but watch out for those trams! Two of the city's biggest department stores are here; an essential part of growing up in Melbourne is being taken to Myer at Christmas to see the window displays.

Many international brands established their first Australian outlets at this major shopping mall in the city center. The mall is filled with fashion, technology, food, and art outlets, and joined via aboveground glass walkways to the Myer and David Jones department stores and the Bourke Street mall to the south, and Melbourne Central shopping center heading north. International stores include Michael Kors and Victoria's Secret, and Australian designers are well represented, including RM Williams, Scanlan Theodore, sass & bide, and Camilla. Coffee is always close to hand and there are several upmarket food courts—on the fourth floor, Tetsujin's sushi train has great city views.

Here you'll find a dizzying complex of predominantly high-street brands that's huge enough to enclose an 1880s redbrick shot tower (once used to make bullets) in its atrium. The Ella (Elizabeth and La Trobe Streets) corner is a tangle of hole-in-the-wall eats, coffee roasters, the excellent Blackhearts & Sparrows bottle shop, and acclaimed cocktail bar BYRDIE (try the wattleseed Negroni).

Opened in 1870, this is Melbourne's oldest shopping plaza. It remains a lovely place to browse and is home to the splendid Gaunt's Clock, which tolls away the hours.

The shops and eateries at this spectacular riverside location are a short walk from both the city center, across the Ponyfish Island pedestrian bridge (slip down the stairs halfway across the bridge to find one of the city's best-placed bars, Ponyfish), and the Arts Center. There's outdoor seating next to the Southbank promenade.

This historic redbrick brewery-turned-factory complex houses cinemas, fashion, food, and gift shops.