Great Woolworths for all your grocery needs…read more This is a full sized supermarket which hosts a great range of fresh and dry products. Located on the second floor this supermaket can be tricky to access if you have a trolley as there the travelator is at the other end of the supermarket to et from level one back down to the ground floor. Look for the lift on the first floor to quickly access the car parks. Great fresh fruit and veg for last minute dinner ingredients. Bottle shop located just next door to pair with your dinner essentials.

Be prepared to drive in circles. Parking here can be a little overwhelming if you are new to the…read moreshopping centre. If it isn't too hot go up to the sail covered parking area and there is normally a spot. The major feature of this shopping centre is IKEA. Yep love IKEA! I just don't like putting their furniture together...some people are made to solve puzzles, but not this little duck. ha There are a good range of other shops in the centre and there is plenty of wide isles and access for people needing assistance. The elevators are very large and there are ramps with a slight gradient. Target is the major department store and there is a large fruit/vegetable shop near a major supermarket. Bing Lee also features! Reading Theatres are surrounded by an excellent food court and a number of good varied restaurants. Several good coffee shops are throughout the centre with reasonable prices. The shopping centre is in walking distance to Rhodes Station. It is in walking distance to Meadowbank (half an hour) over the old historical train bridge, which is a lovely sight in itself.

I like Rhodes Shopping Centre because its not so big and generally not so busy…read more The big stores consist of IKEA, Reading cinemas, Phoenix Restaurant (Great Yum Cha) , Target and Coles and all these other little specialty stores. It only consists of 2 levels of retail space but I think its perfect. If you want Myer you can drive up to Top Ryde or there is always Westfields Parramatta if you want something bigger. Food court located on the end with the Cinemas or you can try some great sushi at Tomodachi.

I can never resist a pop in to Ginger Flower…read more A cacophony of colours, textures and fragrance, this boutique gift shop has every inch covered with things to read, touch, smell, wear and write in. Ginger Flower has a distinctively bohemian feel, stocking brands like Ecoya, Voluspa, Nesti Dante Soaps, MOR and Cards by Lulu. I recently bought a very cute 'Flat Out Bear' ($55) as a gift for my 3YO niece which she absolutely loved. There is almost always something in this shop you would like to give... to yourself if not to the person you are shopping for!

After a last-minute birthday/baby shower/engagement/Christmas gift and no idea where to look?…read moreGinger Flower in Kirribilli is likely to have a solution for you. This charming little gift shop is a magnet even for unintentional shoppers, tempting passers by inside with their beautifully curated window displays. Once inside, marvel at the bounty of trinkets, stationary and beauty products covering each and every inch of the tiny space. Choose from candles by Voluspa and Ecoya (theirs are portable and made from soy), smells-good-enough-to-eat body lotions and scrubs from MOR, leather bound journals, coffee table books, silk scarves and even Moroccan-inspired leather ottomans for those in search of something larger. They've got a good selection of cards, too, so it's pretty much a one-stop shop. Upon purchase, you can opt to give a gold coin donation in exchange for their gift wrapping service - your pressie will be completed with colourful tissue paper and a cord ribbon. Best of all, the money is given to the Kids For Life charity, which assists ill and under privileged children in Australia.

Tony and Cherie have stuffed this place with so much stuff that you are left to root around on your…read moreown. It's fantastic, a shopaholics delight! From lace tablecloths to picture frames, little nic nacs to cushion covers, you have to spend time looking around, it can't be done if five minutes. They sell a range of good brands: Disney Traditions, Coots, Biddys etc etc. Have a look at their Leaning Tower of Pisa pot and cups or their Eiffel Tower. They have both large and small items, just getting to them is the problem. Lots of fun.

This shopping centre is huge--I go here all the time, and I'm always surprised when I discover a…read moreshop that I didn't know had space here! It's great because the retail space is so much larger that all of the shops can keep a reasonable amount of stock on hand, and if one place doesn't have what you're looking for, someplace else will. It's almost exclusively chain stores though, so don't expect anything too quirky or special. There are extensive eating and entertainment options: multiple food courts and restaurants for different price points, plus movies, laser tag, karaoke and the famous ice rink. The parking options are decent, not too horribly overpriced, and reasonably well located. I will say that this place doesn't seem to be optimally designed for foot traffic, and there are almost no free, communal areas to sit or eat if you haven't bought something from a restaurant or cafe with seating. Come prepared to get lost and navigate around some slow walkers and you can shop till you drop!

Absokutely horrible shopping canter. So badly designed car park. took over 30 minutes just to get…read moreto the top for a car park. disgraceful. don't bother, much better shopping centres. this is a disgrace

From the second you walk in you're transported to a twilight zone mix of aladdins cave and a…read morelabyrinth. They have nearly everything here and if they don't, the amazing staff will source it for you. When I say nearly everything. You can set up a house, get all your party needs, grab candy, snacks, souvenirs, toiletries, kitchenware, costumes, hardware. Just to name a few

There are some good shops and then there are some to avoid and some newbies to try. Give the Coles…read moresupermarket a miss or at least the refrigerated section. Woolworths is a pretty big supermarket and generally gets most of that business. The food court has a nice sushi place for lunch. There is a new butcher that carries some deli items. The chicken shop is OK and even has garlic sauce for chicken. Harris Farm Markets is in the lower car park and is a way better option for fruit and veg than the supermarkets. Parking can be a pain and I have driven in and out some days without finding a spot. You also need to be a bit careful with the other drivers as there is poor lighting in some areas and when you combine that with people in a hurry trying to compete for a parking spot it becomes tiger country.

The whole shopping centre was redesigned a few years back but is still one of the worst designed in…read morethe area. Parking is a nightmare with a disjointed multi level car park filled with one way signs and tight turns. There are also a heap of ramps and sloped surfaces which makes for interesting viewing as people try to control full trolleys up and down hills. There are 3 main grocery stores in there; Woolies, Coles and Aldi, a heap of speciality stores and a small food court. It really is a bit small and the only good thing about it is that you can get in and get your groceries a bit quicker here than at Castle Towers. It also has a bigger range than the other neighbouring centre - Westfields North Rocks. Good for the weekly grocery shop but thats about all.

The Bower is a characteristically quaint tin shed wholesaling and co-oping beautifully restored…read moreantiques and reminds me of all those antique gem warehouses you can find through Mittagong and Bowral. There's sets of chairs that are selling for $70 for the whole set. It's the perfect place to practice your Bower skills particularly if you renovating for your home or business and you need to find special pieces that are not too expensive. In any case its a good idea to commit some time but otherwise if you are hunting for anything in particular wander and forage through to really enjoy some time here. There is a park outside with benches were you can enjoy a coffee and snack at one of the cafes in the vicinity of The Bower either before or after your rummage. Enjoy!

If you're wondering where all these new hipster cafes are buying their furniture then look no…read morefurther than The Bower in Marrickville. Here you'll find all your retro kitchen furnishings, wooden ladders of all sizes, old record players (both dead and working), beautiful frames, cupboards, dressers and a seemingly endless range of frameless doors. The Bower is a treasure trove of junk and one of my favourite places to shop when furnishing rooms or searching for props/theatrical sets. Whilst most things in the shop are quite cheap, the small section of repaired/refurbished items at the front of the shop are a little pricier.