THIS is great retail!! Beautiful products + divine displays + wonderful staff = winner!!…read more I'm not surprised because the powerhouse behind the store is the uber talented Tara Dennis. Exclusive Homeware, furniture, luscious skincare, paint, classes situated in a divine shopping strip. #SydneyRetailMustVisit #MustVisit #GreatRetail #Retail

Alfresco Emporium is a speciality retailer of lifestyle and dining products supplying well known…read moreand highly respected homeware brands including glasshouse candles, Bormoli and Ecology. They also have an amazing range of fresh flowers for sale that are handpicked by an experienced florist. And to the back of the store is a pleasant 'hamptonesque' type of cafe with Brassiere bread, sandwiches, sweets and great coffee though the service is painfully slow in all the times I visit. Today I am on a hunt for vintage milk bottles to use as flowers around my home and success I have them. I decide once getting them I may as well start the Christmas shopping and I'm starting with the Ecology cheeseboard with drawers. Beautiful store with beautiful objects.

We went for high tea last Tuesday. Having been in the cafe…read moreindustry for 11 years I had some reasonable expectations. Unfortunately it was not what we were expecting after having high tea at Newport. Service was slow and reluctant, we had to ask for tea and then ask for milk...after having to ask for the cakes to be served. I thought for 4 people spending $140.00 we could reasonably expect better service and attention. The food was lacking, when it became clear there was arancini (from lunch menu for $9.90) cut into 4 and served warm. Then the frittata (again from the lunch menu) cut into 4 and served warm. After having to book for high tea I would have expected something a little different to the usual fare being served. We would not go again.

Sporting a bemusingly ironic name, Shack is really anything but. This lovely homewares shop is…read morealways beautiful to experience - organised in such a way that you meander through and discover little pockets of stylish house and garden goodness. If your style is shabby chic or if you're looking to add a splash of oriental colour to your modern surrounds, Shack is well worth a look. And while it's certainly got large pieces of furniture - beds, dressers, tables - there are also lots of smaller items, perfect for wedding or housewarming gifts. Have I already admitted my addiction to homewares? Probably. So well, there you go - I was always going to end up at Shack.

It's out of fashion, but I get a thrill from repairing things…read more OK, let me rephrase that, I get a thrill from having things repaired. I'm not likely to be able to do it myself, or at least not to a worthy standard. Our lovely long table has twelve matching chairs. Two of the twelve had joint issues - definitely no longer suitable for sitting on, though they still looked the part (possibly this deception makes it worse). Modern retail would have me discard the chairs and buy new. Certainly it would have in Asia, where we spent the best part of the last ten years. Thankfully a return to Sydney means a return to the repairshop, and Remin specialise in repairing wooden furniture. Job well done, chairs as good as new, we're all happy. They're tricky to find, but it's worth persisting.

From the owner: We believe furniture once restored should still reflect its history of use.read more

The best 100% Australian made pure beeswax candles there areread more