Melbourne's Best Popular Shopping Malls

A guide to Melbourne's Top Popular Mainstream Shopping Centres

Sep 23, 2009

Melbourne is famous for its local designers but it's also a great place for regular shopping malls and department stores, packed with popular highstreet brands.

So good is the shopping in Melbourne that many Sydney-siders come down to their rival city just to shop. No surprise then that Melbourne has malls aplenty and great ones at that. Below is a guide to the top shopping centres in the Victorian capital for recognisable brands and top highstreet stores all under the one roof.

Melbourne's Best City Centre Shopping Malls

As the name suggests, 'Melbourne Central' is smack bang in the heart of the city centre. A huge mall complete with a supermarket and food court, Melbourne Central boasts hundreds of popular, mainstream fashion shops. Top stores include Roxy, Ozmosis, Guess and G-Star. At times confusing in layout, the shopping centre has infomation points and maps available for all visitors. Located on the corner of Swanston Street and LaTrobe St, it's the city's best place to find the latest quality highstreet goods all in the same place.

If the hundreds of stores above don't suffice, around the corner on Bourke Street lies the city's main shopping strip for highstreet fashion. Standing out amongst the row of stores on the street lie Australia's two main department stores, 'Myer' and 'David Jones.'With twelve floors of different departments linked by an elevated skywalk, Myer is a popular place for affordable, recognisable brands. It's also the place to bring kids over the festive season when the store pulls out all the stops with its impressive Christmas window displays.

Myer's more upmarket cousin, David Jones is the best department store for top quality goods. Selling a range of wellknown brands from Levi's to Calvin Kleins, the store also has a food hall, tempting shoppers with some fantastic culinary gems. The oldest department store in the world still operating under the same name, David Jones (or 'DJ's as it's affectionately known) spans two blocks and sells mens, womens and childrens fashion.

Although not a mainstream mall, the city's 'Direct Factory Outlets' (DFO) are fast becoming the most frequented shopping centres during these trying recessionary times. Packed with past season stock or current over-stock, DFO is Melbourne's best and most popular factory outlet mall and is home to some of the best bargains. From highstreet shops to designer labels, Australian stores (Quiksilver, Cue) to top international brands (Levi's, Tommy Hilfiger), DFO boasts over 100 stores with quality goods, at up to 70% off original retail prices. There are three locations for DFO: Spencer Street in the city, Moorabbin and Essendon. For more info on these, have a look at Melbourne's Best Factory Outlet Shopping.

Newly opened as of early 2009, Harbourtown is Melbournes latest shopping mall. Gaining popularity on a daily basis, the mall is Melbournes lastest example of the regeneration of the Docklands area. With numerous stores, Harbourtown is a combination of regular retail shops and factory outlets so bargains are almost a given. To get there, catch the free City Circle tram from Flinders St which stops outside it.

Melbourne's Largest Shopping Malls are in the Very Accessible Suburbs

Slightly outside of the city, 'Chadstone Shopping Centre' is the largest mall in the Melbourne area. Packed with all the usual, mainstream Australian and international stores, from Jeans West to Mango, plus a few designer boutiques along the way, Chadstone is a popular place. Dull and factory-like on the outside, the interior is quite pleasing with palm trees dotted along the shopping aisles. Although it's a bit out of the city (20 minutes by train), it's well worth the trek, especially for country, interstate or overseas visitors who are entitled to a discount of up to 30% in over 200 stores in the mall. This generous incentive makes the mall a popular tourist attraction. While most participating stores require a minimum purchase, there is one chocolate shop that gives visitors a free sample upon presentation of their discount card. Complete with Hoyts multiplex cinema and a great food court, Chadstone has everything you need in the one place. Located at 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone, it's accessible by public transport by catching the Pakenham/Cranbourne train line and alighting at Hughesdale. A 5-10 minute walk up Poath Road then brings you to Dandenong Road and the mall is there on the right. For those less energetic, bus 767 towards Box Hill can be caught outside Hughesdale station. Alternatively, a free shuttle bus service runs Thursday - Saturday (11am pick-up, 4.30pm return) and Wednesday and Sunday (10am pick-up, 3pm return). Bookings (1300 558 686) are essential.

The most popular one around Melbourne, 'Westfield Doncaster' is – like most large shopping centres –slightly outside of the city (20 minutes) but a great place to shop nonetheless. Home to lots of the top highstreet brands (such as Bardot, Cue and Guess), Westfield (a.k.a. Shoppingtown or 'Shoppo') also has a food court and cinema multiplex to entertain visitors from morning til late. To get there, catch bus 203, 305 or 307 from the corner of Spencer St and Lonsdale St.

The copyright of the article Melbourne's Best Popular Shopping Malls in Australia Travel is owned by Eva Hogan. Permission to republish Melbourne's Best Popular Shopping Malls in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.