SHOPPING

Shopping

Shopaholics will not be disappointed with Sydney, a cosmopolitan city that offers international as well as local name brands, world class shopping centres, streets that reveal a host of fascinating speciality shops, and discounted market stalls that offer anything from clothes to arts and crafts and edibles.

Most of the large department stores are within the city centre and within a few blocks of each other. For exclusive shopping, the QVB, or Queen Victoria Building, is an architectural masterpiece housing a large variety of designer label and speciality shops, while in similar vein the nearby Strand Arcade houses some of Australia's top designer labels, as well as boutiques, jewellery and beauty salons. Downtown Duty Free in the basement is a great place to pick up some bargains. Other centres include the magnificent Grace Bros' with eight levels boasting vast quantities of goods, Sydney's oldest department store David Jones, the Harbourside development at Darling Harbour, MLC Centre, Picadilly and Centrepoint. Explore the streets of The Rocks, which hide a myriad of speciality shops, while Skygarden centre is home to the biggest bookstore in town, Borders, which also stocks a wide selection of magazines, CDs and DVDs.

Sydney's biggest market is Paddy's, open from Thursday to Sunday, which offers discounted mainstream items, while the Glebe (Saturday) and Bondi (Sunday) markets are traditional alternative markets with a good selection of clothing, arts and crafts, and second-hand goods. The Rocks has weekend stalls trading mainly in good quality crafts, collectibles, and art. For something totally different the daily Sydney Fish Market is a fishy spectacle as well as a great place to feast on fresh seafood. A wider variety of food can be bought at Coles or Woolworths supermarkets.