I put an order in online from the US and never received my product. While I placed this order in…read moreOctober of 2011. Sometime has seriously passed- without a word since March. While I do not want to slander the person handling (or the lack of) handling my case. I do have email correspondence that died off with no follow-up. I would like a refund for my product that never was shipped. I'm sure this company is not bad, but the folks in-charge are just too busy or can care-less. Leaving customers hanging and ripping them off is not the way to do business, period. www.nationstate.com.au

A disclaimer before I start. I love magazines. One of my absolute all-time favourite books concerns…read moreHarold Hayes, the 1960s editor of Esquire magazine. So it should be clear then where I'm going to go with this. I am going to tell you, dear reader, that I love this place. Mag Nation is a magazine store. That is to say, they only sell magazines - no clear-lined writing books, no greeting cards, no pens and pencils and pencil sharpeners, no newspapers, no Archie comics (they do sell some comics but not Archie), they don't sell bus travel tickets, they don't sell cigarettes, no newspapers, no cold drinks. Magazines. That's it. And it's on two levels. That's two levels of magazines. You'll need more than pocket change. The magazines all vary in price and if you're literate and you have hopes, dreams, curiosities, interests, you will likely want to go out the store with more than one so be prepared to come in with a semi-fat wallet.

Lots of books. There was a large amount of bilingual books although it was hard to findread more

After I was done with having lunch at The Galeries, I went upstairs to floor 2 to check this place…read moreout. They're a Japanese chain bookstore. I've been to their locations in Los Angeles, CA and Seattle, WA. My goodness, they had quite the extensive manga selection! Of course all of the super popular ones were available. If I had one of these bookstores closer to where I live, I would be giving them a lot of my money! Everything was so well organized, so everything was very easy to locate.

If there's an unusual or foreign, or unusually foreign magazine that you are struggling to get your…read morehands on, then may I take this opportunity to recommend to you, the World Square Newsagent? I can? Thank you... I will. The World Square Newsagent on Pitt Street, down near, you guessed it, World Square, is just your average newsagents, they sell chocolate and gum, soft drinks, water, stationary, birthday cards, newspapers and magazines. But more importantly, they also import a lot of magazines from overseas. Something a lot of news agencies don' t to do, perhaps for the expense or the lack of confidence they have that the magazine will sell, being that most magazines have a shelf life of one month before they're yesterdays news. I scoured many a newsagent in the inner west, the northern suburbs and the middle of the city, till I finally came across World Square Newsagents. I was looking for an American publication called Script, and no body had it. I was beginning to lose heart. I knew I'd seen it before, I knew it existed, but where? When I entered the shop I realised that they had many more imports as well, not just from America, but from other countries as well. Unfortunately though, there are still issues. I had hoped to get the latest issue of Script, due out in September, but the delivery was running late, this is an import issue and no fault of the Newsagents. Just a juicy bit of information that's not actually juicy and barely qualifies as information.

Interesting selection of magazines and newspapers. They have Chinese language newspapers but only…read moreEnglish language magazines.

The smaller of the two I've been to it's still not that small given the multiple levels. Where you…read morehave me lost is that most of the ground floor is gifts souvenirs and trendy stuff/stationary. Normally I don't mind but I was surprised given the fact that everything upstairs seemed so condensed because of this like an aisle and that's it. Because of this I didn't get the type of time I wanted to have in what I was told was the biggest in Australia. Your mileage may vary on this obviously but for me that's a dealbreaker. On lighter notes staff were scarce and while nice didnt have what I was looking for. Books were in the best condition of the two and I was impressed by that as again I don't have that where I'm from. Despite that Sydney will eventually be my home I'll definitely be looking to shop in Melbourne more for the genres of my tastes.

Absolute garbage service. I PRE ORDER a textbook MONTHS in advance. I then have to reach out to…read moreTHEM to confirm my order as they didn't do so. They extend the delivery date out another 23 days, whatever, fine. I reach out again 20 odd days after that date, only to be told they don't have the book anymore. I demand a refund. They REFUSE. THEY HAVE THE *GALL* TO REFUSE A REFUND UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES!?!? The demand my bank account number! They demand 4-6 weeks turn around time for their "Accounts" team to process the refund. WHAT. A. JOKE. Don't bother with this clown company. Absolute clown circus square go.

Half of it's a bookshop and the other half is an art supply shop, then the third and final half of…read morethe shop is a studio and educational institution. It's one and a half shops really. With a wide selection of all the latest 'got to have' books from hot authors and less attractive ones, the right side of Art on King is dedicated to books on any subject, not just the artistic. Then, if you turn your body to the left in a kind of left turning movement, you'll see, if you haven't already, all of the art supplies. Paints, chalk, rulers, paper, cardboard, models, clay, plastercine, pencils, anatomical figurines and much more, all at reasonable prices and in great supply. I was surprised how cheap the acrylic paint is there, seeing as it can cost a pretty penny elsewhere. The store also holds art classes and acts as a studio in the upstairs area. Home to various lessons in life drawing, specialised arts and the like. The go to place in Newtown for art, books and art based education.

I wish I could paint, unfortunately my artistic abilities tend not to lean in that direction, I am…read morebetter with words than I am with brushes, so rarely would my have any need to enter an art supplies shop, however Art on King shares its space with adjoining shop Modern Times, so while I was there I decided to have a wander. Art on King have all your Art and stationary needs from paints, brushes, pens (what an artist would expect). They also have an extensive range of beautiful large sheets of paper, from delicate embossed papers to Nepalese paper. Also as I am seeing more often, they have a unique range of wrapping paper which would be much better suited as a wall hanging than wrapped around a box, particular note should be made of the human skeletal diagram paper and mushroom paper.

If you want to get a taste of what a newspaper-free world looks like to this check out this…read morenewspaper free-less newsagency. You may be disappointed, but that would only be if you love newspapers and theoretically (because WHO in reality WOULD) you hate magazines. But there's also something more to this place than bricks and mortar and magazines and stationary: the guy working behind the desk is super cool. And he doesn't look like your typical newsagent. That is to say, he looks exactly as you would expect someone to look if they were selling Le Monde/Esquire/Sports Illustrated/TIME/Der Spiegel/ Foreign Affairs magazine/Vogue/ Marie Claire etc etc etc etc. He's young (early 30s perhaps), he's culturally hip (Asian origin and dresses like a globetrotter), he's clearly well-read (on my last visit he suggested I check out an article in that particular week's TIME magazine about architecturally sustainable houses which he personally found very interesting) and he smiles. It has only just occurred to me that the previous paragraph might be mistaken for a promising personals ad so whatever you do, please, don't go in there looking for love. I don't have any info about the guy's personal life. But do check out the store. Who knows, it could be a look-in to the goings-on of the future.

This place might be nothing special but for me it's quite something. I wouldn't buy lottery tickets…read moreso often but when I buy it at this place it is big possibility for me to win! Yey! So I try to come here to buy lottos occasionally. This newsagent is just in front of Town Hall Station entrance so you won't miss it. They have everything like cards, stationeries, small gifts, books, magazines and of course newspapers and many more.

This must be one of the busiest newsagents in Sydney. Situated in The Galeries Victoria just at the…read moreentrance to Town Hall Station, the Lucky Charm certainly lives up to its name as far as location is concerned! Your first mission will be seeing if you can break through the non-stop stream of commuters without hurting yourself (or someone else!). If successful, you'll then find yourself in a well-stocked, but rather humbly outfitted newsagency; one that will almost certainly have you desired magazine to hand. This isn't a store where you'll want to linger, browsing the stock or pondering over the perfect birthday card. No, this newsagency is more attuned to its customers: that non-stop stream of commuters....some of whom will pause for a split-second to pick up their morning paper.

There is nothing better than a good second-hand bookshop, other than a second-hand bookshop where…read morethe owner will talk to you for ages about second-hand books, and this is certainly one of those places. If there is one thing I love to talk about and that is books, expecially old books, and she certainly has a decent collection of them. There are some pretty good titles in here, but the best part about this place, as with most shops of a similar nature, is the ability to simply pour through the volumes looking for something that catches your attention, and also getting a nice, dusty old hardcover book.

Basement Books is a dangerous place on many levels…read more Danger number one: It's in Central. It is right in Central. Central is a place you meet people, so you might say, meet you in central at 4pm and then you get there at 3.30pm and you have to wait. So what do you do? You go to Basement Books and peruse their countless books with bright yellow stickers advertising their low and affordable price. Danger number two: Because these books that you're perusing are cheap, you can justify the price even if you're not sure whether you even need the book. 'Oh, a history of Physics' I've always been interested in Physics, and it's only $9.95 I should probably buy this and learn about Physics. Danger number three: Their range is gigantic! I almost said 'ginormous', but that's not a word. What I meant was Hugantic! There are literally thousands upon thousands of books and they're always receiving new stock. They have art sections, computer sections, history, film, personal growth, science fiction, literature, even books like the dictionary, which, had I purchased a copy last I was in, would have saved me the embarrassment of using a non-word like 'ginormous'. So beware of Basement Books. You have been warned. The bookshop is in a great location, the titles are cheap and the range extraordinary. I have a pile of books in my room almost as tall as I am that I have yet to read, opportune purchases that came at me as I strolled amidst the aisles killing time. A book on deadly diseases for $4.95, I'm not going to find that bargain again. Buy! Buy! Buy!

In this day and age of Kindle and Kobo and Nook, a solid read (and I mean one that you can…read moreliterally hold and turn pages beneath your fingers) comes pretty cheap. You really do need to head in to see what they've got because I find their online catalogue lacking and sometimes the staff don't even know what they're stocking. The outside disguises how big this place really is, as it has sections for anything from classic fiction to travel books and bios. It has a pretty decent selection of art supplies as well (I'm no art student, but it does cater for scrapbooking hobbies or the amateur artist if you're after it). Right in the back corner they have a little children's section which I found perfect for my six year old sister who's going through her first reading phase. I bought her a collection of these tiny Winnie the Pooh classics, and a special anniversary edition of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit and Friends stories which averaged around $4 and $12 respectively. They have tons of different hard cover books (some of which are pop up!) which were surprisingly cheap, but more importantly, were invaluable in keeping kids (of all ages) entertained for hours.