"Your pharmacist has a rock star kinda name," a friend commented when I instagrammed my cold and…read moreflu tablets. (Yeah, I did that. Don't look at me funny.) I don't know if I was served by the rock star himself that morning when I rocked up not long after opening time and said "PLEASE HELP ME I THINK I AM DYING" or something along those lines, but in any case, Jerry Hampton's Amcal North Hobart Pharmacy has become my go-to pharmacy. I ditched the one up the road when I showed up after 1pm on a Saturday and it was closed. Sorry guys, but when this one here is open until 10pm every night, it's a no-brainer. Also, they were happy to give me pseudoephedrine for my cold virus, without hesitation. Winner. (Plus: the tablets totally helped and I was well on the way to recovery by the time I was finished the run of them.)

As I mention in all my reviews of bookstores, I love them. Especially the ones that are locally…read moreowned. Fortunately and unfortunately these are the only types of bookstores still in existence. Oh, I remember the days of Barnes and Nobles and Borders where I would spend hours just looking through and finding things I was looking for and not looking for. We were looking for books about Tasmania flora and fauna and one of our guides on our hike had recommended Fullers. Fullers is a pretty sizeable bookstore with a lot of variety. They have an attached cafe where you can grab something to sip on while you read. We were most interested in the Tasmania section of which they had 3 bookshelves dedicated to. They had Tasmanian cuisine, Tasmanian hikes, Tasmania flora and fauna and much more. I had tried to look for a few of these books on Amazon to avoid having to pack them in my bag but no luck so this is the only place where you're sure to find these books to take home! I brought my giant stack of books to the cashier. After paying for everything, they asked if I wanted them mailed to me. What a wonderful surprise! They said that the owner does this service especially for their overseas customers. Of course I had to add a couple more things to my order just to round things out! This is a great place to stop by if you're in town especially if you're looking for something special about local life to read. Look forward to my next stop here!

Fullers is an incredible bookshop, filled (Fulled?) with incredible things. Every genre is covered…read more(including a "Tasmania" genre, of course), as well as a plentiful stationery section and the all-important book-themed bric-a-brac (think mugs, tea towels, etc). Proudly independent and open seven days a week, this seems to be the place to go for everything reading-related. Once you've made your purchase, you're welcome to get straight into it by settling down for a cup of coffee in Fullers' own Afterword Cafe, located inside the bookshop. I'm so glad I stumbled across this treasure; I have no doubt the girls in here will know me by name very soon.

An amazing find on Salamanca Place. If you're a lady who loves funky jewellery, Rebecca Roth is…read morewell worth a visit. And make sure you spare some time, as you could spend an hour in here trying on all the beautiful options. RR specialises in resin jewellery. So the question becomes, how does RR compare to Dinosaur Designs? Very well in my opinion: equivalent in creativity, exceeds in choice and is far less expensive.

I don't want to flash my bias here too much - oh what the hey. I'm not a huge fan of chain…read morebookstores. It's tough to find anything older than a year or two in this kind of place, unless it's something that's been a bestseller forever, in which case you've seen it all before. Dymocks is Hobart's fast-food bookstore: you come here when you're looking for something recent and specific, and you leave when you've got it. Decent History section, doleful Writing section. Good range of picture books and an excellent spread of fiction. I suppose it depends on what you look for in a bookstore: if the answer is simply, "something to read", you'll probably hit paydirt here. But if you enjoy the entire experience of a bookstore: the atmosphere, and the discovery of books that are very old, very beautiful or on very particular and unusual topics, Hobart has far better on offer.

1st stop for books in a new town - Dymocks. Worth it, great service!read more

Best source for maps in Hobart. Knowledgable and helpful staff provide personal attention to all…read morecustomers and help one find the best map for the need. Street maps, topographic maps, trail maps, travel and guide books, atlases, globes, historic, you name it, they have it or will get it. Need a map, this is the shop.

"Never purchase at Harvey Norman anymore. Terrible service and disrespect their customers!!!" That…read morewas the comment I wrote before my talk with the Good Guys staff. If Harvey Norman staffs could behave in a professional manner, I would have not come to the Good Guys, and that comment would have never been written. I just bought a Panasonic fridge on Sunday 28th December 2014 at more than $1700. The sale person told us that the fridge would be delivered between 10am and 2pm on Monday. I bought the new fridge because the old fridge is not working properly. And really mentioned to the sale person about that. That is, I need a new fridge as soon as possible. And when the sale person said that the fridge would be delivered on Monday, I decided to buy it instead of going to theGoodguys since I need it urgently for the XMas leftover and for the New Year. Since the bought fridge is larger than my old one, we already bought more food with the expectation of putting all those in the new one. Also, when I was away, my parents at home removed all of the food out of the old fridge and disjoined all of door shelves/compartments from the old one, so that the old fridge was ready to be taken away when the new one would be delivered at 2pm at latest as promised. However, we waited until 2:30pm and no fridge was delivered. So we came to the store in Murray Street and asked the sale person. She said that something happened in the system and it stated the fridge would be delivered tomorrow and just said apologies even though we told her that we already bought new food because the new fridge is bigger and that the food would be rotted without being stored at cold temperature. I wonder why we did not receive a call in the early morning that the new fridge would not been delivered as promised? The Harvey Norman staffs would be responsible for this issue when the delivery time is not as promised and call their customers about it in the early morning. I believe that if there was any problem in the system such that the fridge was not taken today, the problem must be noted in the morning since all trucks depart from the storage in the morning. But we did not receive any notice. On Monday, we had to arrange someone at home to sort out all of the existing food in the old fridge, to wait for the new fridge and now we again have to assemble all of the compartments back to the old fridge, put all of the existing food back in the old fridge and don't know where to put the new food in. And all I got from Harvey Norman was an apology. Is it fair for Harvey Norman customers? Another problem happened today - Tuesday 30 December at noon. The fridge was delivered with lots of scratches and dents on all of the three sides. We called the staff at Harvey Norman Hobart store and after many discussions, they told us that we have two options: either keep the scratched and dented one with $100 reduction OR get the new one at the same price. We don't accept for just their apologies for all of their mistakes since we had to wait for the fridge for two days, had to cancel lots of our outdoor activities, put all of our Xmas and New Year food in and out of the old fridge back and forth, and wasted money for rotted food due to their delayed delivery. They told us that since we got a discounted price when I purchased the fridge already, so they won't reduce the price although lots of trouble they caused us later. I asked them that "do you mean we must accept all of your problem just because we got a negotiated price when we purchased it?" She said yes. How terrible!!! They are UNACCEPTABLE!!! ---- After lots of discussions with the Harvey Norman staffs, especially the manager and after our talk with the Good Guys, things are now sorted out. I revised the rating of Harvey Norman from 1 star to 3 stars.

Deja Vu is a nice second hand (and new) bookstore that packs a lot of literature in a very small…read morespace. And if you look at my picture, the inventory spills out nicely into one of the back alleys of Salamanca. The enthusiastic owner (pictured) was more than happy to find and sell me a book of cartoons by the late Jon Kudelka. His iconic "Tasmania is Awful" tea towel can be seen on the phone booth.

Great little second hand book shop in Salamanca, stock is limited cause the shop is so small but…read moreyou can find gems here. Well worth a visit.

One of the more interesting bookshops here; or in fact on any continent. Quite simply there A LOT…read moreof books here of every topic you can dream of : Australia, Horror, fiction... and random stacks here and there with all sorts of interesting odds and ends in them. Many are used, some are new but if you ask Richard, he'll give you honest answers about books and if he doesn't have it they can order it for you. There are some real treasures tucked away here! You could easily spend all day flipping through pages. Honestly the only other bookstore better is in Portland, Oregon, and it takes up nearly a city block. Follow them on the socials for some interesting insights! A must visit for anyone who likes to read.

The coolest bookstore in town. Hobart's Black Books, except Richard isn't quite as grumpy as…read moreBernard--unless you ask him a stupid question, I suppose... C&S may be small but you can still get lost in amongst the shelves. I don't recommend following them on Facebook, because then when they advertise new books in on there you may snatch up the ones I want before I get a chance to do so.