Ferntree Plaza located directly opposite Upper Ferntree Gully Train Station is pretty popular. This…read moreis mainly because it has Maxi Foods on the inside. The plaza itself is quite old now and is in need of a refurbishment. It still has the old billboard sign out the front and the colours of the place are reminiscent of the nineties. Inside the plaza you will find Maxi Foods, Bakers Delight, Hawke's Pharmacy and a few cafes. It is pretty dark inside, which doesn't increase my enjoyment of the place. There are a lot of shops outside too. These include restaurants, butchers, chicken shops, newsagents and hairdressers. There is a large variety of shops here and as such it attracts a lot of people on a daily basis. There are a lot of car parks available but these are often quick to fill. In this circumstance you can park at the station across the road or on Dawson road. Be careful parking on Dawson road though as buses run there frequently. The demographic here tends to be older during the day with most patrons around fifty years old. Once it hits 3pm however, the place is swamped with school kids from Upwey, St. Joes and Mater Christi who get there via buses and the train. It can get pretty hectic at those times because there are people everywhere in the car park and driving is a nightmare.

As a local resident Ferntree Plaza is irreplaceable. The main tenant, Maxi Foods, is an independent…read moresupermarket and this is currently their only Melbourne Metro store. Their 'house' brand is Black & Gold and their specials closely mirror that of the IGA chain. Their speciality products feature an aisle specifically allocated to home bread-making, with an extensive range of ingredients. They also have an extensive range of health, organic and gluten-free foods and a good supply of UK, US and South African sourced products. The liquor department is reasonably comprehensive, but lacks the big specials of the larger chains. Maxi's also features a large fruit and veg department, butchery and bakery. The post office is not large but is well stocked, very friendly and open on Saturday mornings. Both the indoor and outdoor cafe's are good as is the chemist and tobacconist. Brumby's bakery is fresh and has a good range and the butchers has a good range and some great specials at closing time on Saturday. The clothes shop and $2 shop are both full of bargains.The newsagent has a huge range of cards and magazines but also sells Tattersall's lottery tickets. Outside the main shopping area you will find a hairdresser which is a small shop but very reasonably priced, a newish take-away food shop featuring pizzas and a tiny but excellent Chinese restaurant that features dumplings. On Saturday mornings the car park is a little frantic, but at all other times there is always a spare space. Given the difficulties of ingress / access and parking at the nearest Woolworths, Coles and Aldi outlets, Ferntree Plaza may not always be the cheapest choice but it is often the sanest choice for local shopping.

String Bean Alley is one of Melbourne's newest laneway experiences. Laneways are narrow pedestrian…read morepaths. In Melbourne, they often have shops or cafes along the laneway. This pedestrian laneway has vendors that sell jewelry, handmade soaps, books, art and more. Loved the shop with socks, socks and more socks. Picked up pairs with kangaroos and koalas for the family. So much fun to explore the String Bean Alley in the marketplace.

I'm just starting to discover the beauty of Moonee Ponds and the abundance it offers in the forms…read moreof retail therapy, hair and beauty and nightlife. It has become one of my fave new suburbs to explore, and of course I started off at the place called Moonee Ponds Central!! (Where else would you go?) Situated at the corner of the junction, spanning over three spacious buildings from Hall street to Puckle street, and less than ten minutes walk from the train station, MPC shopping centre has everything you need, contained in an easy to navigate facility. Don't get me wrong, it's not the sort of place you'd forsake Highpoint, Chadstone or DFO for, but if you're in the area or new to it it's a great little find. Containing those evil necessary giants Kmart and Coles, the big banks NAB, Commonwealth and St George, a First Choice Liquor Store and a great variety of cafes, fresh food, beauty services, a 24 hour gym and fashion for the whole family. Even a division of Kangan TAFE is here!! As a mother with two young children, I find MPC has everything I need, plus the extras I enjoy in a convenient centre that's easy to navigate with a pram.

Shara's review was absolutely right on the money!…read more Moonee Ponds Central is a great little shopping centre about the same size as Barkly Square in Brunswick or Northcote Plaza in Northcote, except it has a few little bonuses that those two shopping centres dont have too! The most useful thing about MPC is the undercover car park!!! And its free parking too!!!! (the one next to Coles anyway - in the original MPC building). Not sure if the one under kmart is free or not. The undercover parking is perfect for supermarket shopping in wet weather. The centre also contains some other useful additions, including Michel's Pattiserie which gives away its pies and spinach rolls very cheap towards the end of the day and a very good chicken shop just outside the door of the northern building. The centre covers 3 buildings on the 3 streets parallel to and including Puckle Street and they contain clothing stores, food shops, kmart, Coles, a lolly shop and various shopping centre rides for the kids. In the old days, if you parked in the Coles carpark, then the walk to Puckle Street was boring, but now you have the centre to walk through and there are all sorts of interesting things in the shops to look at on the 2 minute walk to Puckle Street!!! As for the atmosphere, you wont find as many cool funky people here as you will in Barkly Square or Northcote Plaza (you will find some though - including myself!), but you wont find it a boring place full of bogans and suburbanites either. Its a bit of both. It is very down to earth and the shop keepers and checkout chicks always take the time to have a chat to the customers - which is a really nice touch! If you live anywhere near the area and havnt been in here, definitely come for a look - especially if it is raining!

Look, I'm not a huge fan of shopping centres, namely because they lack the authenticity of your…read moretypical main street, and the shops inside tend to be part of larger chains, so there also seems to be somewhat of a lack of personality to many of the shops as well. They do have their uses in part, and some of them are trying to create a bit of a main street feel, but unfortunately it tends to fail more often than not. As for this one, well, I have to admit that it is pretty fancy, though like a lot of them it is easy to get pretty lost inside as well. I liked it, and they do have a number of good coffee shops as well, so I'll certainly give it marks for that.

The Ugly Duckling that once was Westfield Doncaster has recently received the ultimate makeover and…read moreflourished as a stylish swan. Luxurious lounge area's to rest after intensive shopping are glittered throughout the centre and the brightly lit malls lead to over 400 shopping outlets. This shopping mall is a mix of chain stores from high street to designer fashion stores, home wares and electronics. Home to department stores Myer and David Jones, Village Cinema, Big W , Target, Safeway and Coles and countless food outlets. If your after high end designers then Chadstone is your best bet but for designers such as Alannah Hill and Max Mara then Doncaster is a more manageable option.This centre looks bigger then it feels so if your up for a shopping marathon you may feel let down by the size. But for my shopping and entertainment needs Doncaster is fantastic! The new personal shopper suite is perfect for individuals and groups who need a little fashion help, which may be useful in the upcoming party season! While not my speed I can totally appreciate its merits. The main obstacle to shopping bliss is car parking during peak periods, especially December and weekends its every car for itself. To ad insult to injury parking will cost you if you spend more then three hours in the centre. To remedy this you can pay $10 for valet parking and have your car sheltered for you. Doncaster Westfield is my pick for shopping in the Northeastern suburbs.

No different to Pitt Street Mall in the city, the Bourke Street Mall is Melbourne's equivalent, and…read morewith its own unique Zara outlet as well. So often the tram tracks are crossed to get to the other side to the point where waiting to cross the road at the lights to enjoy some more high quality shopping is a chore within itself. The iconic public purse at the tram station outside Melbourne GPO is a hit within itself (no pun intended) as musicians come to entertain us with their musical equipment stacked along this magnetic piece of art. Don't cross the tram tracks just yet as you have Melbourne GPO to explore. A word of warning: just ensure that you have gone to the toilet beforehand as something so simple as going to the loo turns out to be an obstacle here. Great cafes await you as well as quality boutiques to browse through. I love Georg Jensen here; in fact all the jewellers here provide great customer service. Keep walking and you will find Myers and DJ's in tandem with more street performers, and not to mention activists wanting support to help free the refugees or to take a stand of capitalism etc. Something would be so wrong with you if you are bored here. Cross the tram tracks (safer to actually cross the road) and you will find the food halls and more treats. Sadly that bistro on the Elizabeth Street side is now closed. And you might be lucky to spot one more street performer before moving on.

In the late 90's early 00's, the Bourke Mall of Melbourne was a Mecca of dodge. Sure every…read morechristmas there was the myer windows, but overall it wasn't a great place. Lucky for us Melbournians the recent (last 5 years) new tram stops and the current Myer and David Jones remodeling and the addition of Zara have lifted to the Mall to the cosmopolitan space I always new it could be.

Went today for the first time in ages and it was too hot. Hubby had to sit down and then left to…read morecar. I couldnt even visit the stores I wanted to. I felt like I was going to pass out and then one escalator was out and I had to walk even further. Never again

I have to say that this shopping centre is a bit of a maze. In fact it is a lot of a maze, meaning…read morethat it can be quite easy to end up getting lost in it. I guess this is what happens when shopping centres start off small and they just keep on adding more and more to it, until such a time as it is an absolute monstrosity, and you need a GPS to be able to wander around. Still, as a shopping centre it isn't too bad, and it has quite a good range of services, including a half decent pub.

Love the culture and the food. Not a huge fan of the car park, but this place works better on…read morepublic transport.

I love Melbourne Central. I love how it's a one-stop-shop for everything you could need…read more ~ Smack dab in the middle of the CBD. Need something you (for some strange reason) cannot find at Melbourne Central? It's probably 10 steps away from Melbourne Central/ ~ Stunning interior design and architecture. You have your tower underneath a glass cage. At first, I thought that this was a bit strange, but then accepted the fact that the tower probably did a lot of bad things in its life and needs a cage to control it. You can't let that thing free, man. ~ Nice selection of food. Nothing too fantastic, but my favourites: Menya Ramen, Lord of the Fries, Grill'd, O-Bento, and Harajuku Crepes. There's bound to be more food heavens that I haven't explored in that massive building yet, and I'm keen to be on the lookout! ~ Convenient public transportation. If you're on the go, trust Melbourne Central to have a train running to anywhere you want in Melbourne. Trust Melbourne Central to also have great food takeaways for you to enjoy yourself at before your train arrives. ~ Loads of entertainment! Try out Cho Gao - a great Asian Beer Cafe with a stunning view of the city. Now try out Cho Gao after catching a movie at Melbourne Central's very own cinema. Seriously - what CAN'T you do here?

Apparently this place used to be a hospital, but that was long before my time. These days it is…read morebasically a huge, post-modern style, shopping centre, and a very confusing one at that. In fact it is very easy to get lost inside, and I have found myself wandering around it numerous times either trying to find a way out, or trying to locate a specific shop. Okay, it does have a Dan Murphy's but the way out can be a challenge to find even at the best of times.

As far as shopping centres in the CBD goes, Melbourne Central will forever have my heart. However,…read moreQV does have its own unique charm. PROS: ~ It differs from Melbourne Central in that Melbourne Central is more commercial with large-named chain stores whereas QV has a collection of smaller, independently-owned fashion boutiques. ~ Has Woolworth's and Big W - two really useful department stores. ~ Convenient location in the CBD! CONS: ~ The food court isn't very good. Yeah I know it's a pretty silly way to grade a shopping centre but mama loves her food! ~ Very confusing and hard-to-navigate. There are so many twists, turns, and hidden laneways. I have actually gotten lost on multiple occasions. Essentially, QV is a lot more hip whereas Melbourne Central is larger and more commercial. There is still room for expansion but it does have a unique charm!