Hello art heaven. This place has some of the cheapest supplies out there and it sucks they're not…read moreopen on Saturday afternoon and Sundays, but they are worth waking up early on the weekend and trekking down there. The staff are accommodating and friendly.

From the owner: Welcome to the world of art & craft. Order your art material online now! We stock the world's…read moreleading brands of artists materials.

Excellent service with super friendly and knowledgeable staff. A large selection of art supplies at…read morereasonable prices and a generous rewards program. This my shop of choice for art supplies and advice. i highly recommend this strore

This is definitely my kind of arts and crafts store. Positioned across the street from Lincraft…read more(the generic, mega-chain of the art supply world), Erckrsley's provides style and quality that far surpass the competition. I was recently in the neighborhood looking for supplies to make my fascinator for Melbourne Cup. I was able to find my base materials at Lincraft, but was looking for some speciality origami paper to make paper cranes out of for the purpose of affixing to my fascinator. The Lincraft staff sent me across the way to Eckersley's and I was able to find exactly what I was looking for. Their individual paper selection here is incredible. Not cheap though, that's for sure. I think each individual paper sheet I chose was around $3 a piece. Eckersley's also has a great selection of painting supplies, brushes, canvasses, etc. This is a shop for the serious artist or the crafter who wants to ensure their hard work is accented by only the finest materials. I wouldn't personally be able to afford sourcing all materials for a project here, but it's definitely worth dropping a dime on crucial accent supplies. The staff is friendly, the store is well stocked and the quality is high.

Amazing range of art supplies of all kind, wether you are looking for oils, acrylic, watercolour,…read morepastels or surfaces, paper, canvas and a huge range of brushes of any quality you like. If you can't find what you are after, it will be ordered in for you. Same goes for framing. Service is always friendly and helpful. Easy parking up the ramp to pack in your supplies. My favourite shop on the Northern Beaches for art supplies and framing!

This is a niche business that's tricky to find, but worth pursuing for its abundance of purist art…read moresupplies - some high-end stuff, but also bits and pieces for the dabbler. I found it confusing because it is multi-faceted. Downstairs you enter off Ethel Street to an art gallery. If you weren't determinedly seeking it out, you could easily miss the fact that a back staircase leads to a large and densely packed store full of papers and presentation folders and easels and paint brushes and a kaleidoscope of coloured paint. In fact they encourage you to use the back entrance, which involves turning up a ramp off Ethel Street that appears to lead to either a roof terrace or a carpark - not an art supply store. Staff are passionate about what they sell - no doubt most of them are working there to supplement their own creative efforts. Not so sure about the art in the gallery, but can't leave the store without the weapons to tackle some new project myself.

I personally love Japanese culture, so I am really glad to have this store open up near us…read morerecently. Their art & craft supplies definitely come in handy for journalling/school work/work in general, and their stuff is much cheaper to get than the stationary/art supplies that can be found in Kmart. They have other things as well that aren't related to stationary/art. They also have imported Japanese food, homeware etc. You will definitely find something in this store that will cater to your needs/wants.

Can't - keep - away!! I'm so lured by Daiso and love immersing my self in the colors, products and…read moredifferent items for sale. Almost everything is $2.80. With so many aisles and categories from homeware and kitchenware to stationary, personal care and snacks, it's like a treasure hunt for the bargain hunter and a gold mine for the value lover. Worth a visit ... Hands down you'll buy something, will you ever use it? Probably not, but for $2.80 ... who cares!

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.