Bargain Shopper Blog

Less than a week to go, ladies and gents, before the fashion behemoth of Topshop opens its first ever Australia-based store in Sydney. Known for making high-end fashion designs affordable, the iconic UK range (which includes Kate Moss Topshop and Topman) will be located on the second floor of Incu’s 256 Oxford Street store in Paddington. Doors will open at 10am on Thursday, 29 October and while TopShop senior buyer Rachel Proud has said she doesn’t expect queues, Bargain Shoppers predicts the lines of high-street-hungry hordes will be longer than the list of men with OTT crushes on Kate Moss, which we assume would be pretty long.

Clothing designed by the multi-talented model will be available, along with creations by Bassike, Topman, Unique, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Helmut Lang and Alexander Wang.  Incu Presents TopShop, as the store is formally known, will stock fashion from Topshop’s 2010 repertoire on a smaller scale than what is available at the retailer’s superstore-style outlets in Britain.

The question on our lips is whether budget-savvy shoppers will be able to find any bargains inside. Having had the pleasure of shopping in the retail chain’s Oxford Circus Mecca in London we can attest to Topshop offering decent prices on up-market designs. Its rrps are said to be in the same vicinity as Sportsgirl’s, which is great news.

There is also a massive incentive offer that might coax you inside (if the lure of the fashion alone doesn’t!). Incu will be running a competition for customers in its first month after opening, giving them the chance to win a trip to London courtesy of Virgin Atlantic and VisitBritain. For up-to-date information on the competition, follow INCU_TOPSHOP on Twitter.

For those who simply can’t wait for Topshop’s reduced-price stock to appear in Australia, jump the queue and get it online from the UK right now! Topshop currently has over 250 designs on sale at its website until stocks last. The Aussie dollar is soaring enough to make these clothes really TOP value.


Are you excited about the opening of Topshop in Sydney? Let us know!

 

 

 

 

In addition to the many activities the approach of summer affords – visiting the beach, dusting off sundresses, catching a movie in the gardens – the onslaught of seasonal markets are a fantastic treat for Melbournians. From September onwards, stallholders aplenty come out of hibernation to bestow upon us their treasures. So as the weather warms up, pull out your favourite shopping basket and hightail it to market!

Markets in the Garden
Kicking off this year on Saturday 14th November, Markets in the Garden offers a unique summer weekend activity, complete with live music and gourmet food. Staged within the beautiful perimeters of the Royal Botanic Gardens, opposite the Shrine of Remembrance, this is a shopping experience like no other (and absolutely adverse to the confines of a shopping centre). Products up for grabs include fashion, jewellery and handbags; horticultural displays, water features, plants and garden ornaments. Check it out the second Saturday of the month until April, from 9am to 2pm. www.marketsinthegarden.com.au

Suzuki Night Market
A great place to visit at the best of times, the Queen Vic Market puts on a special show for summer shoppers. The Suzuki Night Market is held every Wednesday night, this year beginning 25th November, and offers an enticing and exotic blend of goods and activities. A personal favourite, visiting the many international food stalls will have your stomach growling in no time; good luck deciding which country to dine with! From Indian and Vietnamese to Mauritian and Ethiopian, the bustling crowds within the food hall provide a busy ambience for the evening’s festivities. Regular vendors also offer their wares, from clothing and jewellery to artwork and regional produce. www.qvm.com.au/snm

Style After Dark
Style After Dark at South Melbourne Market has already started so be sure to include this on your calendar. Running from 24th September to 26th November every Thursday from 5.30pm to 9.30pm, this event focuses on locally designed, locally made, vintage and collectible fashion as well as art and homewares. With any good market comes good food and this is no exception. In addition to the nearby traders who stay open for the occasion, there is also a selection of vendors offering the likes of Spanish and Asian delicacies. www.southmelbournemarket.com.au/night_market

Craft Markets Australia
Since visiting the Red Hill Market as a child, I’ve set myself an eating challenge: to consume as much as possible on each venture. Over the years my tastes have progressed from cupcakes and sausage rolls to gourmet cheese bagels, pofitjers and wood fired pizzas. Obviously I can’t cover everything in one day so I make it my duty to take home enough goodies to see me through the remainder of the weekend. As I’m beginning to learn, food is not the only thing on offer; there are also handicrafts and natural beauty products; plants, artwork and more. In addition to Red Hill, there are five markets run by the same organisation: Mornington Racecourse Market, Healesville Racecourse Market, Flemington UP Market, Lardner Park Market and Werribee Racecourse Market. Held on rotating weekends, they run from September through to May (though a selection are held all year-round). www.craftmarkets.com.au

It’s that time of year again — time to dust off the cobwebs from your summer accessories and introduce them back into your wardrobe. I did this the other day, only I discovered that those silvery lines criss-crossing my gladiator sandals and handbag weren’t cobwebs — they were cracks, stains and frayed edges. OK, so for me it’s time to completely update my summer accessories collection — an annual mission I both love… and dread. I love browsing the shops for the best pieces, but I absolutely dread the dilemma of whether to buy PVC or leather.

Every year for the last decade I have gone mostly with the PVC option, reasoning that the current fashion will be out of date by next year and there’s no use spending squillions on a leather handbag and flats if they’re only going to be ‘in’ for one season. (Or if I’m only going to be into them for one season…). Every year I promise myself that “next year will be different”. Next year, I’ll lash out and buy the real deal. So should I maintain my promise? Is my money better spent on fast fashion fakes or on longer-lasting genuine articles?

There are so many pros and cons and I need help to decide!

Price
There’s no arguing that PVC products win the price war over leather. You can pick up a hot handbag (or two) for circa $50 if it’s plastic, while leather designs are well into the hundreds. You could even buy a few different bags every season for the next five years, keeping up with the latest fashions, for the price of one premium leather handbag over that time. A win for PVC.

The “investment” piece
This is how leather-loving friends of mine justify their $400 handbag buys. “Leather gets better with age”, they explain, clutching and petting their Mimcos like miniature puppies. It’s true that quality leather handbags will live long enough (given the proper care) to become fashion heirlooms one day, and this does have value beyond the monetary. Imagine showing off a wardrobe museum filled with tattered PVC to your granddaughters? Er, Gran, you had no style! A win to leather.

Wear vs care
Anyone who’s owned a PVC handbag will know that after six months (or less) the straps start to fray and cracks form on the bag’s skin as fast as crow's feet after your 30th birthday. Although, being waterproof, PVC can handle a spilled red wine better than most leather. Leather-wearers must spray their darling arm candy with leather protector and bodyguard them from such catastrophes, or else the bag will become patchwork.

But who really has the energy to look after their handbag? I’m guilty of throwing mine down on dirty restaurant floors and accidentally graffitiing them with pen ink. PVC always seems to spring back from these misadventures with no complaints, but could leather? Looking after leather requires a lot of effort, which maybe I’d be willing to put in if I’d spent a week’s pay on the purse. But constantly worrying about my handbag’s wellbeing doesn’t appeal to me. Even Stevens on this point.

That “look”
Leather does look better. Leather clutches look less ‘accessory’ and more ‘feature’ of an outfit. And the confidence you get from wearing a divinely sumptuous leather sac under your arm is — well, divine. I’ve known this all along. But during my pro-PVC phase I have convinced myself that if you buy an understated thermoplastic pouch that blends with any outfit — no one will notice the difference.

In addition to all of this, there’s the environment to think about (leather is better), and need for different bags to go with different outfits (PVC is more affordable), and the fact that I’ll probably get bored wearing one handbag for more than one year anyway (a plus for PVC), and the winner is…

HELP!

What do you think? Would you buy a PVC or leather handbag, and why? What about other accessories? Comment below or email bargainguru@universalmagazines.com.au

The time of year is almost upon us when the population of Melbourne discards their winter blacks for a frenzy of colour, fake tan and fascinators. The Spring Racing Carnival will officially launch on Wednesday 30 September – marking the start of fifty days of fashion (not to mention champagne guzzling and the occasional horse). This doesn’t leave much time to prepare our outfits!

Whether you’re planning to go trackside every day, or merely for the main events, planning your outfits in advance will avoid any last minute splurges. As we in the bargain shopping world are well aware, there are many alternatives to paying full price, which can be explored when planning your race-day outfits.

Online shopping sites are a great place to start when searching for a new dress. Several months ago I picked up a cute Zara number – with colourful Cup Day in mind – for a mere $30 from www.thewardrobestore.com. Second-hand sites such as this offer some fantastic bargains from high street labels like Witchery and Sportsgirl, to the likes of designers Sass & Bide and Zimmerman. There is also an abundance of fashion sites with brand new clothes that feature the occasional sale. Visit the likes of www.designerstirredwithvintage.com.au, www.ciaomeow.com.au, www.frockaholics.com, www.closetprincess.com and www.instylefashions.com.au (as well as tried and trusted ebay). Of course, unlike purchasing something in-store, there is always the risk of it not fitting. Always check the returns policy; worst case scenario you can always sell it on yourself!

Your next option is to visit the designer sales that are a constant in this economically unstable time. Keep abreast of what’s on by signing up to receive newsletters such as Missy Confidential and Sales Guide. In the last few months I’ve been lured by the likes of Alice McCall, Yeojin Bae, Leonard Street and Leona Edmiston, with pleasing results for all concerned.

Of course, buying a dress isn’t your only option when arranging your outfits. Why not arrange a swap meet with your girlfriends; you’ll find that between you, you’ve got enough dresses to see you all through Spring Carnival. This option has given rise to official swap parties such as Swap my Style and the Clothing Exchange. At such events you can bring along unwanted goods and exchange them for someone else’s treasure. Hey presto – a new outfit without spending a cent!

Halfway between these two options – buying and swapping – there’s renting. There are a growing number of websites such as www.indiangiver.com.au where you pay a fee to borrow the designer dress or accessory of your choice. I found a Camilla and Marc dress retailing for $720 available to hire for $130. At designer handbag-hire site www.style4hire.com.au you’ll find everything from Bally to Louis Vuitton. I found a gorgeous Jimmy Choo clutch retailing for $2000 available to hire for $200 a week or $400 for a month. What with the changing nature of fashion, this is all the time the two of you will need together.

While time is no longer on our side for this year’s Spring Racing events, there are things you can do during the year to prepare for next year’s fashion choices. Visit department store sales – the Boxing Day and End of Financial Year sales at Myer and David Jones in particular – to stock up on hosiery, hats and designer frocks reduced to a fraction of their original price. Visit outlet stores in non-racing periods to pick up a bargain; I’m still proud of the $19 hat I purchased from the Richmond Mimco outlet, reduced from $89. Just like those dedicated Christmas shoppers who have secured all their purchases by March, you’ll spend the rest of your year feeling smugly sorry for the frantic masses spending a fortune on their last minute fashion purchases.

Australian shoppers have been crying out for a low cost alternative to buying from supermarket giants. Now, with the opening of budget groceries and goods retailer Costco in Melbourne, locals there have had their wishes granted. But are the savings as good as they say?

US mega-retailer Costco has landed in Melbourne, promising to fulfil the dreams of cash-strapped shoppers by selling top brand products at wholesale prices. Bargain shoppers can buy everything from supermarket items to designer goods (that's right — you can buy a Louis Vuitton handbag with your loaf of bread!). Along with food, clothing and accessories there are nappies, appliances, TVs, automotive supplies and just about everything in between — all for well below recommended retail price.

While the savings made by shopping at Costco are written on the wall, there are a few catches that shoppers need to be aware of, which — depending on your situation — may outweigh the positives of paying less.

Membership fees
Costco is a shopping club, which means to shop there you must pay an upfront (and annual) fee of $60. Paying money to spend money? It sounds crazy, but for regular Costco shoppers the fee ultimately doesn’t amount to much, as the money is fairly quickly redeemed in savings on their grocery bill. The key is to shop at Costco often (at least once a month) to get the most out of your membership. If you only shop there once a year, it may not be worth it. Charging a membership fee is a clever way for Costco to ensure shoppers return to the store regularly.

Also, for every membership card bought, a second card can be given to a friend or family member living at the same residence for free. In effect, for many people the membership fee really only costs $30.

Buying in bulk
Buying in bulk may suit families who live in houses with plenty of storage space. But for singles, couples, students and anyone living in smaller apartments, buying in bulk is difficult. Where do you put the tower of 96 rolls of toilet paper in your one-bedroom flat? The answer — if you’re still keen to bulk up — is to shop with friends. But beware of the Costco rules…

Shopping with friends
While Costco only allows members to make purchases at their store, members are welcome to take two friends along with them for the ride. Regular Costco shopper in the US, Fiona, says that there’s no stopping a large group of friends with two or three Costco memberships between them doing their weekly groceries and divvying the purchases once they leave the store. “It takes a bit of organising, but it’s worth it in the end,” she says.

Worth the drive?
Costco is located at Melbourne Docklands, the equivalent of Sydney’s Darling Harbour, which means for people living out of town the cost of petrol and tolls to drive to Costco might add those dollars saved back onto your grocery bill. Try car-pooling with other Costco members from your area to make the trip worthwhile (and make sure you have a big car boot!). Also keep an eye on the time: parking is free for the first two hours, then $5 per hour thereafter.

No frills
The reason Costco is able to keep prices so low is that they have a no-frills approach, reducing overheads to a bare minimum. These savings are then passed onto the customer. But with low prices comes a low level of luxury. Costco sells clothing, but has no change rooms; and if you’re in a rush, there’s no express checkout to put you through speedily. Shop with low expectations, and you won’t be disappointed.

Sydney warehouse
Before all of you bargain hungry Sydneysiders pack your bags and hit the road to Melbourne, try holding out until the end of next year. While nothing is set in stone yet, the wheels are in motion to open a Costco outlet in Sydney in late 2010. The proposed address is 15-21 Parramatta Rd, Auburn — a much shorter drive than Melbourne!

Have you shopped at Costco? What are the pros and cons in your view? Submit your comment or email bargainguru@universalmagazines.com.au

Fashion fever is in the air in Sydney as the Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival (RSFF) gets ready to kick off its heels on Monday 17 August. If you thought the closest you’d get to the RSFF catwalks was admiring fashion pics in the newspaper and staring awestruck at on-screen clips of designer-clad runway models — think again. There are plenty of ways for bargain hunting fashionistas like ourselves to get involved in ‘eyeing and buying’ the high-end fashion on show at the RSFF.

First, there’s the Fashion Festival Buddy — an über chic little guide with over $500 redeemable value inside. Pick up one of these from the CBD stores of participating retailers (such as David Lawrence, Lisa Ho, Seafolly and Myer, to name a few) to cash in on some awesome fashion savings.

Next is a range of free and next-to-nothing fashion exhibitions, parades, beauty demonstrations and talks by major fashion designers. Bargain Shoppers Guide to Sydney is not going to miss In Conversation with Leona Edmiston, where the Australian Frock Queen will discuss key pieces and personal favourites among her own collection (Thursday 22 August).

Alternatively you can park yourself in front of the plasma screens at Ardino Salon (40 Oxford Street, Paddington) for free 24-hour footage of the latest fashion hitting the Martin Place catwalks. Check out the RSFF website’s official schedule for more details.

Last but not least — and our favourite pick of the bunch — is the Emerging Designer Markets held at the Fringe Bar on Saturday 22 August. Festival organisers have hand-picked 20 up-and-coming fashion designers (including Perspective Apparel, Palosanto and Rasberry Beret) to showcase their designs at this event, and you’ll find their unique creations, fresh from the sewing machine, on sale here for generally between 20 and 50 per cent less than recommended retail prices. Now, it’s one thing to brag about a well-known label bargain, but it’s another thing altogether to say you snapped up the next big thing in fashion for a great price. Pencil this one into your calendar, immediately.

There you have it, ladies. Now there’s no excuse not to hit the catwalks this coming week.

I’m in a pickle. In the next few months I have no less than five weddings to attend (none of which are my own, mind you) and I have no idea what I’m going to wear. A few ceremonies will be in winter, a few in spring; some will be indoors, and some outside. What’s more, the same circle of friends will be lining the pews at each wedding. How am I going to look like a glamour princess at each event without blowing my life savings on five separate outfits?

I could lash out and buy one killer dress to wear to all weddings, but then I risk becoming the Where’s Wally in all my friends’ photo albums. Or I could buy five so-so inexpensive frocks, but then I’d probably end up blending in with the reception venue carpet.

Then, like a bouquet of roses over the head, the answer hit me.

Fashion rental! Just as groomsmen hire their suits, I could rent my five stunning kits from some of the numerous fashion-for-hire services that have appeared online in the past few years. And it’s tradition to wear “something borrowed” to a wedding, right?

My only worry was, being a rental novice, could I be sure to find frocks, clutches and accessories that’ll turn heads without having to pay in the thousands? Can I find diamonds for diamante prices?

The high-fashion rental trend hit Australia in 2006 and has been growing steadily ever since. Renting out stellar designer pieces for a fraction of the retail price for a day, week or month met the needs of label lovers who wanted to keep their wardrobes up to date without going into the red. Web-based stores such as Mila & Eddie, which offers designer handbags for hire, and Love Me & Leave Me, which stocks all kinds of fashion accessories for rent, started cropping up everywhere; and then in 2008 when Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw discovered the rental phenomenon, the craze boomed.

But can you still hire fantastic frocks and all the frills while on a genuine budget?

After a brief wedding march down the internet aisles, I discovered that — yes, you can. At Style 4 Hire I found a Coach clutch in baby pink for just $21 (rrp $300) to hire for the week, and at Dressed Up I spotted a stunning Rachel Gilbert black mini dress for $109 (rrp $595) also for the week. At Wish to Wear I found a pair of Prada heels for $49.95 per week ($59.95 per week for guests) and at Bag an Image I could score a Wedding Package — including a Chanel handbag and matching necklace and earrings — for $25.50 for the day!

At this rate, I’ll be able to hire five different wedding-wowing outfits, laden with labels, for less than $1000. Bring it on!

What’s been your experience of fashion rental? Know of any fab fashion-for-hire bargains? Let us know! Post a comment below or email bargainguru@universalmagazines.com.au

If my group of girlfriends are the norm, by the time you reach your 20s, the days of getting ready for parties together and swapping outfits is a thing of the past. It is therefore with great excitement that I welcome the evolution of swap meets – the equivalent of open-access to the wardrobes of rent-a-friends.

In Australia, we spend billions each year on clothing, much of which is worn once and then relegated to op shops or the bin. In the current era of ‘fast fashion’, where clothing is made not to last but endure a season, we’re buying more clothes than ever before. Whether motivated by concern for such reckless consumerism, or their own expenditure, a handful of recessionistas have stepped forward to forge a solution to the problem.

The crop of swap meet events that have emerged in Australia over the past few years have arrived just in time to save us from fashion disaster during the current wave of economic turbulence. Staged regularly in most states, these events allow participants to swap fashion items they no longer wear, upgrading them for other people’s unwanted goods. This environmentally trendy concept allows you to refresh your wardrobe without shoppers’ guilt or detriment to your bank balance. Plus, it’s in the spirit of sustainability and recycling – so everyone wins!

To give you an example of how they work, one such event – SwapMyStyle - encourages participants to bring up to five new or pre-worn high end clothing, handbags and accessories (priced from around $100 to $700) that they no longer cherish. For each item you receive a token, coloured according to the respective valuation of your items. The rules are: the minimum item value must be $100; items entered into the swap should not be more than two years old; and those priced over $300 should be saved for the VIP Designer Fashion Swap events. The token system allows you to swap fashion items for near or equal value to what you have brought on the day.

The rules and procedures vary slightly at each event, from The Clothing Exchange to Miss Green’s Wardrobe. All of them, however, provide a purse-friendly alternative to reinventing your wardrobe. This fantastic concept allows the savvy shoppers amongst us to take bargain hunting to the next level!

Recession! Financial crisis! Economic turmoil! The newspaper headlines say it all. But does the world’s economic situation really mean we all have to freeze our bank accounts, wear last season’s clothes again and crawl into hibernation? Here at Bargain Shoppers, we don’t think so at all. In fact, while the GFC has meant many of us have had to cut back on spending, we believe some good has come out of the situation.

That’s right — the recession has taught us some valuable shopping lessons: it’s made us reassess our spending habits and work even harder at finding places we can get the most bang for our buck.

Lesson #1: Budgeting
When many of us received the government’s stimulus package earlier this year — a lovely $900 wad of cold, hard dosh — and were encouraged to go forth and spend, it was a big test of our retail self-restraint. In the past we might have blown it all immediately on a spanking pair of Gucci boots (on sale, of course), but those GFC warning bells echoing in our ears made us think twice. Instead, we made that stimulus money stretch as far as it could go, sourcing the best-value beauty treatments, clothes and budget specials we could find.

Having that cap of $900 made us here in the office realise the importance of budgeting before a shopping spree. It forced us to define the things we most needed and wanted and not spend a dollar more than the money we had in our wallets.

Lesson #2: Money-saving secrets
Saving money used to happen naturally and only where and when it was convenient, but since the GFC we’ve been looking at ways to save at every spending occasion. And saving doesn’t always mean you have to sacrifice the good things in life. Dinner parties with friends at home instead of extravagant nights out on the town, using real money over plastic cash (credit card debt and interest rates are a killer) and swapping those lavish midweek lunches at work with yummy homemade meals are just a few ways to pocket an extra few dollars a week while still having just as much fun. Write down your weekly expenditures and figure out where you can shave down your overheads and you’ll have more cash to buy those things you really need!

Lesson #3: Bargain shopping
Another positive thing is that, driven by our desire to keep shopping while on a shoestring, we’ve found even more amazing stores to bag a bargain, from fashion to food and furniture outlets — Sydney is overflowing with them — but you have to know where to look. That’s why it’s important to consult your Bargain Shoppers Guide before you make a purchase to check whether there’s a better deal on offer somewhere else.

We could keep going on about the lessons we’ve learnt this year, but we want to pass the mic over to you. We’ve created this blog as a kind of forum for us all to share bargain-shopping tips and advice. And in the current financial times, I’m sure we could all do with much advice as we can get!

P.S. What bargain-shopping lessons have you learnt from the GFC? Know of a new bargain outlet that’s opened up? Got a bargain shopping tip to share? Let us know! Post a comment below or email bargainguru@universalmagazines.com.au

Under the impending cloud of a recession, the financially challenged amongst us are looking to cut back on expenses wherever possible. However hard you’ve been hit by the current economical climate, and whatever aspect of your lavish lifestyle needs to be scaled back, our new and improved website will help you to do it. Whether you’re looking for bargain beauty solutions, discounted clothing, or advice on where to shop for groceries, you’re sure to find it here. The secret is to avoid taking advantage of all these bargains at once, and spending more than ever!

As a dedicated bargain hunter myself, I’ve visited so many sales in recent months that it seems tumbleweed is blowing through my bank account. Admittedly I’m proud of my purchases — particularly my new clothes — but my lack of funds has denied me an abundance of opportunities to wear them outside the house. I often ask myself how this can happen; after all, by attending these sales, haven’t I saved money rather than spent it? And therein lies the bargain shopping conundrum: we become so consumed by the thrill of the hunt that we overlook our ever-accumulating credit card bills.

We are spoilt for choice here in Melbourne, where a plentiful supply of outlets and warehouses allow us to buy otherwise unaffordable goods (and more of them) than ever before. Instead of buying one dress, we buy two; instead of collecting just a quilt cover, we throw in a blanket and cushions as well. For many of us, bargain shopping has come to mean quantity over quality and the more we buy, the hungrier we are for our next bargain fix.

With that in mind, I feel it’s time to rediscover the true meaning of effective bargain hunting. For me, a great bargain is not measured by how much you spend but rather the value you get for your money. My best bargains have eventuated by rifling through op shop racks or digging through boxes at designer sales, rather than picking up a $5 T-shirt from a high street store. In such situations, what a wonderful feeling it is to come across that special piece, be it a snakeskin purse or a leather belt, that you know no one else will have. Better yet, that warm feeling returns every time you receive a compliment for your stylish attire. Smug in the knowledge that you not only look unique but have spent next to nothing, it can be a struggle to stop oneself from announcing the price of each item to anyone within earshot.

So let quality over quantity be our shopping mantra this year. May you all survive this economical upheaval in style, by being more creative and diligent in your shopping habits. And for the sake of all our bank balances, may all future sales be more thoughtfully and evenly dispensed throughout the year.