Shop

We’re so sorry that you arrived here before we had this page really ready for you. We’re really busy working on the EAT and DRINK pages right now and we’ve left a bit of a mess here. We promise we’ll get back and tidy this up just as soon as we can.

 

Ah, shopping…whether you love it or hate it you’ve still got to do it. But what it is about shopping when we travel that is so different? We’ve all bought things while travelling that we would never buy at home. The luminously coloured tropical print shirt that seemed so en vogue when sipping cocktails under the equatorial sun. The garden gnome decorated with a “Sexy Grandpa” T-shirt. The $150 pneumatic wine bottle opener, which upon arriving home you realize is as useful as a coal scuttle now that every brand of wine you drink has switched to a screw top. And then there are the gifts for the folks back home. You hunt and hunt and hunt for the perfect item for that special person you hold so dear in your heart, until after hours of mind-numbing-vacation-wasting effort you make a final desperate choice of a genuine “local“ hand-carved mini “native” totem pole (with Made In China stamped on the bottom) – oooh, so classy.

Our goal is to help you shop more like a local…well, a certain kind of local. The kind you’re more likely to find supporting the independent merchants downtown or in their neighbourhood shops, rather than cruising the malls or the big box stores…not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just definitely not our cup of tea. We’ll will briefly cover the basics; groceries, pharmacies, even the malls – though we won’t bother with too detailed a description (they’re pretty much the same as every other mall you’ve ever been in). And while we’re at it we might even help you find gifts for your loved ones that won’t make it quite so obvious that you gave up simply gave up in disgust.

So ladies and gentleman…unclasp your purses, spread-eagle your wallets, unzip your fanny packs and enjoy the experience of good old fashioned shopping. You know, walking, seeing, touching, trying and interacting with the world around you. After all you may be the last generation who has the pleasure of doing so before leaving one’s home is deemed to risky for the average citizen, and shopping reduced to a mouse click and a 10 second wait before your purchase materializes before your eyes.

QUICK LINKS

View All Shop Posts

View Greatest Shop Posts

View Cheap Shop Posts

CATEGORIES

Basic Necessities – Groceries, Pharmacies, Housewares, Malls:  – We know…BORING! You didn’t come to Horsing Around Victoria to find out where to pick up a 5 pound bag of potatoes or toilet bowel cleaner, but a person’s got to eat (and occasionally clean their toilet) so we thought we’d provide a quick run down of where to pick up these items when needed.

Beauty Bunny – Cosmetics, skin creams, hair care, body waxing…not too long ago these things were considered solely within a women’s domain, but look out ladies, these days scores of metrosexual men are Bro-zillianing and Brow-sing their way to that clean, pre-pubescent 12 year old boy look that women have desired down through countless millennia. We hope it doesn’t stop there. Bring back the powdered wig, the high-waisted pantaloon and the beauty spot that those great dandies of the French Court favoured. By god if I’m going to be beheaded I want my lipstick and rouge to match that blood spray. But I digress. Here we’ll cover the best in beauty products and treatments, as well as spas and other proficient purveyors of pampering. And don’t worry guys, we’ll never tell the ladies you were often mistaken for an escaped simian before the treatments.

  • Clothing & Accessories
    • Everyday Apparel
    • Frugal Fashionistas
    • Splurgeworthy
    • Duds for Dandies
    • Filly Footwear
    • Vintage, Rebel, Geek
  • Groovy Gifts & Guffaws
  • It Came from Grandma’s Closet
  • Markets & Specialty Foods
  • Music, Art & Literature
  • Outdoor Adventures
  • Touristy Take-Homes
  • Toys (For the Big & Little)

Bakery Bliss – Despite having nourished and sustained mankind for nearly 10,000 years wheat has recently found itself on the wrong side of the food gestapo. With the paranoia around gluten reaching proportions usually reserved for a black cats walking on shattered mirrors under ladders, our poor beloved bakers haven’t had it easy (I spoke with one recently who had a client ask if they could prepare a “sugar free, gluten free, dairy free cake” for their child’s birthday…geez, happy birthday kid!). We continue to have some wonderful bakeries, you just need to look a little harder to find them and we are here to help. (Hang in there bakers…this too shall pass!)