#Sustainablity shopping? Shabby #Vintage Junk Extravaganza 3-4 June 2011 #recycling

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This is the second year that the Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza has been held. The leadership for this event is provided by the indefatigable Tamara.  Many of the favourites from last year will be there again this year along with some new participants.  

Please let me declare my interest.  My daughter, Herself, was one of last year's participants and will be there again this year. She has masses of stuff to offer.  See one of her collages below.  And there is the most charming old-fashioned rocking horse.  

To find out more about last year's wonderful Extravaganza, please go to one of my other blogs, The Trad Pad.  

Please note: this year there are Early Bird Tickets.  This gets you in for a special one hour of shopping prior to the main opening time.  It is the Early Bird who truly catches the worm, so if you pay for that premium ticket you will get the premium pick.  I do know though that the stall-holders have so much stuff that stalls won't be emptied by 1pm.  

GIRLS' DAY OUT AT MORNINGTON : BAY HOTEL : POMME: MORNINGTON ANTIQUES CENTRE

Herself and I had a girls day out to-day. We drove to Mornington. First of all, we stopped for lunch at the Bay Hotel.  You can see the bistro section - which was beautifully warm and toasty - on the right of the collage above.

We checked out the menu:

We had certainly picked our day because we were able to avail ourselves of the Monday/Tuesday Special which meant that if we picked a "starred" item we got it for $15 with a complimentary glass of wine.  I know I don't dine out often these days, Trad Padders, but I hadn't come across a cleverly marked menu such as this.  Along with the stars, the menu sported tiny 'v's for vegetarian and 'gf's for gluten free.  I am vegetarian and I appreciated this thoughtful touch and I am sure the gluten free brigade would too.

I ordered Mediterranean Pappardelle which, ordinarily according to the menu, has chicken.  I asked for the dish without the chicken and they were happy to oblige.  So my pappardelle came with roasted vegetables, pan seared with olive oil, tossed through the pappardelle and sprinkled with feta and toasted pine nuts.  Herself - who is a carnivore - ordered the Hopkins River Beef Burger.  I didn't have the wine.  Herself had mine and I had a coke.  She seemed well pleased with her vino.  I noted that The Bay promotes local Mornington Peninsula wines with other Australian wines bringing up the rear.  So, as you can see, we had good provender.

Our real purpose for the day was to visit the Mornington Antiques Centre.  But before we set off for there, Herself wanted to make a visit to the local Bed Bath and Table.  We couldn't find close parking in the main street and had to turn out of the main street only to find ample parking and more shops, including major chains like Target, behind the main street shops.  We got out of the car and Pomme caught my eye.  I figured in could do BBT back home any time.  And off I went to Pomme...

The chairs at the front of Pomme are bright and cheery

and the store will cover these chairs to the fabric of your choice.

 Display of art and design, jewellery and homewares

is beautifully done at Pomme.  Go see for yourselves.

 These delicate hanging pendants are filled with tiny treasures.

Behind them, are enchanting artworks of Belted Galloway cattle.

I purchased something for my sister's forthcoming birthday -

but I won't let out the secret here.

Then we were off to browse the Morninton Antiques Centre...

And we did walk away with some goodies.

Herself bought a beautiful print of pink roses.

I brought home a chest of drawers which I hope to transform

and two wooden cutlery holders for pens & scissors & etceteras.

Perhaps that will be the subject of the next post.

Opp Shopping in Upper Gully

I was up at my favouritest Parents Without Partners Opp Shop in Upper Gully to-day.

To-day, Friday 13 June, and to-morrow, Saturday 14 June, they are having a Dollar Day.

They are stocked to the hilt and they want all their regulars to benefit from the sale.

As well, they want to welcome lots of newcomers too.

So, time to hotfoot it to Rose Street, Upper Ferntree Gully.

Directions:

Head east to the Dandenong Ranges,

turn right from Burwood Highway into Dawson Street, Upper Ferntree Gully

(Ferntree Gully Plaza Shopping Centre on one side of Dawson Street

and the Royal Hotel on the other side)

Take first turn to the left - along Rose Street.

Rose Street bends to the left.

On the bend look right and there it is!

Your money is well spent

because PWP at Upper Gully contributes to the support of Emergency Housing in the south-east and, in addition, pays the wages of a Social Worker to assist those in need of the housing.

The Opp Shop Fringe Festival: somebody was listening

Almost two years ago I wrote the post below. I republish it below because it looks like my Fringe Festival idea might have come true if you pop over to I Op Therefore I am. I am indebted to Gina for the tip off.


Miss Eagle is gobsmacked. Who ever heard the like - a shopping festival!

Miss Eagle realises that there are many temples distributed around Australian cities dedicated to the gods and icons of Consumerism - but a festival! What does this mean? Does it mean that Consumerism, as a free-standing religion, will now establish its own religious calendar instead of converting the feasts of the Christian calendar for its own ends? Will the Melbourne Shopping Festival become the Hajj of Consumerism with Melbourne its Mecca? Will Melbourne business offer indulgences of huge percentages off in the same way that indulgences were sold once upon a time?

Miss Eagle thinks that one of the attractions for the powers-that-be in Melbourne is that a shopping festival could be run concurrently with at least one other major event on the Melbourne calendar. Perhaps there can even be more than one shopping festival fitted into the calendar. Shopping Festival and Grand Prix! Shopping Festival and AFL Grand Final! Shopping Festival and Melbourne Cup! You see juggling the circuses of Melbourne has become a game of increasing difficulty. This year the Grand Prix and the Commonwealth Games were jostling one another in a packed calendar.

Talk about Bread and Circuses!

Now Miss Eagle cannot say how many bakeries Melbourne has but this city - which boasts that it is the sporting capital of Australia - is well set up for circuses. There are more sporting arenas within walking distance of the CBD than in any other city in the country: the MCG, Olympic Park, Rod Laver and Vodaphone Arena, Telstra Dome, Albert Park with Flemington Racetrack being only a short cab or train ride away. And we won't go into the subject of theatres and public places and spaces like Federation Square.

One thing, though, that Miss Eagle wants to know. If there is to be a Melbourne Shopping Festival how will the Opp Shop clientele such as Miss Eagle and Gina be catered for? Or will we have to establish our own Fringe Festival?

Woolworths, Safeway, Liquor and Fuel - but not food

Miss Eagle has sent the following email to Liz in Victorian Regional Office of Safeway (the name used by Woolworths in Victoria). It is self-explanatory. If you, dear Reader, agree with Miss E, please feel free to write to Woolworths in your state. If you are writing in Victoria, please send to ejamieson@woolworths.com.au.

This afternoon, I was in the Safeway store at Burwood Highway, Ferntree Gully (not the Mountain Gate store). I was stunned to see an advertisement stating, that if customers purchased $60 of goods from Safeway Liquor, they would receive a 20c a litre discount on fuel.

I am amazed at the ethics of such a campaign. I have been told by Kerry in the Area 5 office that this was part of a national campaign organised by the Marketing Division of Woolworths. M

The campaign has certainly not been well thought through. It sends very mixed messages to the community:

1. Alcohol is more valuable than food because it attracts a larger discount on fuel at the bowser.
2. $60 worth of alcohol far outweighs in value at the bowser any amount large or small spent on food.
3. The campaign links alcohol to driving in an encouraging way - in more or less the same way that large car parks at suburban hotels encourage a drink and drive mentality.
4. Woolworths, whose income is derived - in the main - from families, encourages a significant slice of the family budget to be devoted to alcohol.
5. The campaign seeks to encourage a significant amount of spending on alcohol which is the root cause of violence and road deaths in our society and ties the name of Woolworths/Safeway to it.

I would ask you to immediately withdraw this marketing campaign from all Woolworths and Safeway stores and to refrain from any similar type of marketing in the future.

I also wish to complain about the way complaints are handled within Woolworths and Safeway.

I am told that the Woolworths system means that someone in the local regional office will email someone in Sydney but that the system does not allow for me to be cc'd. So I have no way of knowing the accuracy of material forwarded to the responsible person regarding my complaint. I have rung the corporate office in Sydney who referred me back to the local regional office. Sydney refused to give me the name of the person with responsibility for the campaign. I then asked for the title, the phone number and the email of the person responsible for the marketing campaign. This too was refused. There is clearly no way for the customer to be in direct contact with the person with corporate responsibility. I am told that the matter will take two business days and I am familiar with the time limit that Woolworths sets itself to respond.

I fear that the manner in which Woolworths deals with complaints means that the complaint will not be acted upon in a positive manner leading to the withdrawal of the campaign and that Woolworths will go on its merry way regardless.

Yours sincerely,
[Name supplied] [address supplied]
Email: [supplied]
Phone: [supplied]
Blogs: Oz Tucker at http://oztucker.blogspot.com/
The Trad Pad at http://tradpad.blogspot.com/
The Eagle's Nest at http://eaglesplace.blogspot.com

We'll wait to see what - if anything - happens.

Whatta place - Howey Place!

On Friday night, Miss Eagle was having a wander in the city and found herself in Howey Place. Aaaah!

Howey Place is a laneway of lovely shops off Little Collins Street. The circle on the map above marks the spot.

Dear Reader, if you are living overseas, you should know that Melbourne is the shopping capital of Australia. It is also the artiest city in Australia and the most European. Mmmm...

At the entry to Howey Place is Oroton on the left...
and French Connection (FCUK) on the right.
Special occasion elegance is in the window at Stellini...
and the latest trends at Jason Grech.
Accessorising is done at Glass Tree ...
... and sheer class comes from Andrea Yasmin.
David Medlow Chocolates are a recent addition...
...with fruity delectables...
...and liqueur choclates.

And then there is Miss Eagle's favourite - Alannah Hill.

Miss E has written about her before.

Funky, feminine elegance...
...mixed and flaunted...
And in the door Miss Eagle went, dear Reader...
...into the luscious foyer...
...with the glowing red portholes and signature Alannah flowers...
...and more flamboyant fashion...

...under red canopies of light.
All in all, a stimulating walk, daydreaming, musing, enjoying.

Miss Eagle slips her lid

Yes, I did. I slipped me lid. I was washing up the lovely one pounder (5oo gram) clear green glass butter dish, the lid slipped out of control, and smashed to smithereens on the kitchen floor. Sadness! :-( :-( :-(

Now, Miss Eagle has to hunt, seek, and hopefully gather another one - lid that is, or, more probably, a whole new green glass butter dish with lid. So, in the weeks ahead, you will come across Miss Eagle a-hunting in Opp Shops across the eastern suburbs and The Hills.

However, dear Reader, could you help too - pretty please. Pretty please with sugar on? If you are opp shopping, could you please keep your eyes peeled and if you find such a pretty thing as a one pounder (500 gram) clear green glass butter dish with lid please email me off the side bar.

Cath Kidston hits the shelves in Target

It is not only Stella McCartney who has invaded Target.

Herself and Miss Eagle were in Target for some winter clothing shopping. Of course, we had a browse. Herself and Miss E would have you know, dear Reader, that we have great admiration for the eye and the skills of the person who does the homeware and manchester purchasing for Target. Good stuff priced well! Then, in our browsing, you could have knocked each of us over with a feather!

There before our eyes was the magical name of Cath Kidston!

Now, dear Reader, if you have done any exploring you will know that Cath's wares have a certain cachet and are not available just anywhere and everywhere. In Melbourne, the very few number of stores who stock Cath's fabrics are only to be found in the "better" suburbs. So, to find her famous name even on toiletries was a surprise. So we spent the princely sum of A$7.99 to get our souvenir - a hatbox will have to wait until later!

Shopping: therapy, festival, compulsion, illness, manipulation

Ramada - Mall of America

Shopping is better than sex.
If you're not satisfied after shopping you can make an exchange for something you really like.

Adrienne Gusoff

Shop Til You Drop Magazine

What is it about shopping? What is it about shopping and the female of the species? Can we live with it? Can we live without it?

We talk about retail therapy. There seems to be a word for shopping til you drop: oniomania. Melbourne - which has more than its fair share of bread and circuses - is contemplating, as Miss Eagle has mentioned before, a shopping festival. Dubai actually has one and so has Hong Kong.

It is lovely to walk through beautiful shops selling beautiful things - even if one doesn't spend. Miss Eagle can still dream about Prada and Bulgari even if she can't afford it. This is why, even though she has not spent a cent there, Miss E was thrilled by the refurbishment of the Ground Floor at David Jones' Burke Street Mall store.

Could there possibly be a down side?

There is the illness. The cultural distortion which sees Hot Cross Buns - an Easter tradition - on sale before Epiphany. Advertising manipulating our children. The sexualization of our children. And for more information on how, when we consume, we are consumed go here.

Then there is the economic impact. Some see the globalization of retail and commodities which it sells as a positive thing. This article - brief as it is - comes out on the positive size while mentioning social disruption and the loss of jobs in some sectors of the economy.

We need to remember that when we purchase all that stuff from China and India it is great for their economies. And they really do need jobs. But when we lose jobs in this nation, we also lose skills - skills that are not always readily replaced with new ones. We can also lose access to jobs and personal economic development for women and young people.

So what is the solution? Miss E has none except the caveat emptor (buyer beware) provisions. Be aware! Demand accountability - not just from individuals but from governments and corporations.

If we become aware and demand accountability, we will become smart, ethical shoppers.

And for increasing numbers of us, we will go this way to the opp shop.

Favourite Fan

This is my favourite purchase from the PWP Opp Shop at Upper Ferntree Gully.

It is made out of card which appears to have been glued together and shaped and cut with pinking shears.

It is held together with a split pin of the sort used to hold documents together and a pretty pink ribbon is inserted in the hole.

However, the gluing (if it is two cards glued together) is so well done that it cannot be detected. The other thing is that the card seems to be uniformly of a high quality - not, methinks, as thin as most cards.

It folds up, needless to say, which makes it easily portable - but as you can see, dear Reader, looks beautiful standing up and spread.

Never mind the weather...a sunshine-y opp shop day

What a lovely day was Sunday. The weather was overcast and rainy making for very damp conditions. But Gina of Patra's Other Place and associated blogs and Sharon of Beyond the Blank Page and Miss Eagle met in Upper Gully for a day together and everything was sunshine-y bright. Lee-Ann from Pear Tree Cottage! had hoped to join us, but this was not possible.

The day started with a visit to Craft Fair on Burwood Highway at Ferntree Gully. They have a lovely coffee shop so after a long and thoughtful browse we indulged and refreshed ourselves as this photo of Sharon and Miss Eagle taken by Gina shows.

So after that, it was off to the Market at Upper Gully.

Stalls were somewhat depleted because of the weather but we saw what there was to see.
It was then only a hop, step, and a little jump to walk across to the PWP Opp Shop down behind the Royal Hotel. Miss Eagle has posted previously on the wonderful art on the facade of this opp shop. See here, here, and here.

So we followed the Paws into the shop.

Miss Eagle discovered that the art work does not stop at the front door. The dressing room is a delight with this wonderful work on one corrugated iron wall.

Gina left no item unturned...
...while Sharon searched the racks.

We looked at the ties to make a selection for Woof Nanny. Miss Eagle tried to convince Gina that you need an AFL tie, Barb. Miss E knew you wouldn't have one of these from the Australain Football League. But do you think Miss E could convince Gina....!

So here, Barb, is the selection!
Here is some of Miss Eagle's treasure. This was $3 worth including a facewasher (unpictured).

A stencil set for $3 was also purchased.