Patterns

Fish'n'chips, anyone?

Florey Takeaway. There are plenty of these shops, specialising in hamburgers and hot chips, scattered throughout Canberra's suburbs, but not all of them can boast such bright tilework!

Neon

One last image from Sydney. This is the 'view' from our hotel room at night - just across the road from Westfield Miranda (thank goodness for blockout curtains!).

With nearly 400 shops, this centre is the largest in the southern part of Sydney, and in 2010 turned over $723.6 million. There are approximately 13.4 million visits to this shopping centre each year - with 7 day trading, that's over 37,000 people a day through the doors. No wonder it seemed really crowded!

Giant monotreme in Ngunnawal

Tucked in among the trees beside the Platypus Centre shops in Ngunnawal, you might be lucky to spot the unique giant platypus, but only if you're very, very quiet ...

Straight down

A very ordinary scene - a shopping centre carpark exit, but from an angle you don't often notice.

Gungahlin Marketplace

Bredbo Christmas Barn

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there was a shop in Woden Plaza called Unique Boutique. During the year it was filled with all sorts of things to decorate your home, and as the end of the year approached it turned into a wonderland of sparkly Christmas decorations. Unique Boutique closed down, but it now operates as the Bredbo Christmas Barn, in a little village about an hour south of Canberra, on the Monaro Highway towards Cooma.

Definitely worth a visit if you're in the market for a new tree (even an upside down one to hang from the ceiling), a reindeer dressed as something like a cross between Marie Antoinette and a Can-Can dancer (in several sizes, the largest of which was taller than my 10 year old), Disney ornaments, birds with real feathers (including partridges, although I didn't see any pear trees), Nativity scenes, and much much more. But sadly you're too late this year - they've closed up today, and won't be open again until June.

Santa's in Cooma

As we drove into Cooma, a little over 100km south of Canberra, to visit friends today, we spotted dozens of these jolly red fellows sitting up on the shop awnings along the main street, including above a hairdresser ...

 

... over a bank ...

... and above the biker-friendly East End Cafe.

Santa stop here

 

This Christmas display is out the front of Big W (a department store owned by Woolworths) in Gungahlin. Not sure if Santa's just supposed to stop to pick up his mail, or if he's being encouraged to shop in Big W ...

Not Santa

Tucked away behind the big glitzy tree and the shiny red Santa sleigh at Westfield Belconnen is a (much smaller) Nativity scene. Who said Christmas was all about commerce? But you really need to go looking for the alternatives ...

O Christmas Tree!

The 3-level high Christmas tree in Westfield Belconnen, with summer sunshine streaming in through the skylights.

8 sleeps

Only 8 sleeps until Christmas now, but Santa's sleigh has been at Westfield Belconnen since early November, when I took this photo (although I think Santa arrived a little later than that).

Smith's Bookshop

I've been unwell over the weekend, and haven't been able to post, but on Friday I was in the city and dropped in to Smith's Alternative Bookshop. There aren't too many independent bookshops left, but this one has been operating since the 1970s. And they have coffee :)

Smith's stock new releases, and local books and CDs, and also rather 'interesting' books, like the pop-up Karma Sutra (I haven't seen it, but they mention it on their website, and the mind just boggles!).

Smith's is in Alinga Street in Civic, in the Melbourne Building, opposite the city post office. Yes, I know all the big shops are over the other side around the Canberra Centre, but you can find those shops anywhere. This is the only Smith's Alternative Bookshop.

Fresh Food: Best parking

This is part of the carpark at Westfield Belconnen. Some time over the past couple of months they installed a new system to make finding a parking spot easier. Small LED lights with sensors indicate whether a spot is available (green), available for disabled/parents with prams (blue) or occupied (red). There are also electronic signs at the end of each aisle indicating how many spots are available - no more driving around in circles trying to find one!

David Jones

The David Jones department store main entrance on City Walk.

In 1838, a Welshman by the name of David Jones opened his first shop in Sydney, which had only been established 50 years earlier. David Jones & Co. flourished, but the business failed after Mr Jones retired. So he came back to work and, with new partners and his son to help, successfully re-established the business.

By 1959 there were three stores, and in the 1960s and 1970s David Jones expanded interstate to Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and the ACT. It hasn't all been smooth sailing but today there are 37 DJ's stores, including two in Canberra, as well as an online store.

DFO

DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) is a large shopping centre outside the main are of Fyshwick. They brand themselves as a 'shopping mecca' with leading brands up to 70% off. Personally (and maybe I'm just not a dedicated enough shopper) I find it inconveniently located, full of the same sort of shops you find in every other shopping centre, and with much the same stock - some discounted certainly, but that seems to be older stock, overstocks, and odd sizes. So I'm not a big fan, although many other people are keen on this sort of place.

Apparently there are ten of these centres, all in the eastern states, and they've been in some serious financial difficulties, but they're still operating in Canberra, at least for now. And whatever I think of them, I do like the cloud pattern in this photo!

Bring back the shops

Not the sort of images that make it onto Canberra's promotional materials, but interesting nonetheless. This photo was taken at Giralang shops, a local centre that was pretty much shut down seven years ago. The site has one owner, and there have been various plans to redevelop the site, either as shops, as apartments, or as a combination of the two. There have been objections, some from local residents, but mostly, it appears, from retail competitors in neighbouring areas, who were concerned about the possible inclusion of a larger supermarket such as Woolworths (there are specific size limits for supermarkets in local shopping centres).

According to the Canberra Times:

The approved proposal allows the centre's owners, the Nikias family, to develop a much smaller 1500sqm supermarket, which is more likely to attract an IGA or ALDI supermarket as its tenant.

The Planning Minister also approved four specialty shops at Giralang, a cafe, a restaurant, 100 underground car-parking spaces and more than 70 surface car-parking spaces.

It will be interesting to see the changes here over the coming months.