Sweet style ... Adelaide Arcade.
For vintage fashion, antiques and contemporary design, this city is streets ahead, writes Belinda Jackson.
Staple diet
Rundle Mall is Adelaide's most visible - yet least memorable - shopping strip, flanked by David Jones, Myer and SA's own department store, Harris Scarfe. Not to be confused with the happening Rundle Street, in the east end. Splintering off from the mall are arcades including the beautiful, 125-year-old Adelaide Arcade, which houses tiny barber shops, wig makers and chocolatiers. Outlet shoppers make for Harbour Town on Tapleys Hill Road, West Beach.
Must buys
Aboriginal arts and crafts: hardworking Better World Arts has gorgeous artworks and indigenous art stitched into cushions, plus throws by Kashmiri chain-embroiderers, 144 Commercial Road, Port Adelaide. The Fabric of Life's textiles conservationist, Mary Jose, has an eye for contemporary and antique Aboriginal and global textiles (141 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide), while the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute's shop sells hand-woven baskets, artefacts, music and books, 253 Grenfell Street, city.
Cheap trick
For vintage fashion, start with Red Cross speciality store Two 8 Four (284 Rundle Street) but save time for the back section of Clothes Line Saga (238 Rundle Street, city), Red Ruby Vintage (14 Peel Street, city), Little Worn Wardrobe (19 Peel Street, city) and Tanjent (1A Margaret Street, Norwood). Then hit the Antiques Market for accessories (32 Grote Street, city). Magill Road, Norwood is riddled with antiques dealers - try Mid Century Modern (No. 140) or Stephen Sinclair (100 Halifax Street, city). Vinyl hounds haunt B Sharp Records (240 Rundle Street), while vintage wine lovers can either dally at SA's many cellar doors or cut to the chase at the incredible cellars beneath the Victory Hotel (Sellicks Beach), East End Cellars (22 Vardon Avenue, city) or Melbourne Street Wine Cellars (93 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide).
Market madness
Adelaide Central Markets sells the city's best produce, closed Sunday and Monday, 45 Gouger Street. Regroup and recoup at Lucia's for espresso and handmade pasta. Hunt Gilles Street Markets on the third Sunday of each month (91 Gilles Street, City) and the North Adelaide Vintage & Fashion Fair each second and fourth Sunday (200 Jeffcott Street, North Adelaide) for emerging designers and vintage cladding. Bowerbird Bazaar at the Queen's Theatre is a twice-yearly furniture, textiles and arts market, May 6-8, October 28-30 (Playhouse Lane, city).
Insider trading
Elizabeth Street, Croydon: This tiny strip is home to Azalia jewellery studio, which shares with contemporary art space A Room of Her Own (No. 5), interiors ideas powerhouse One Small Room, which is packed with mid-century furniture and its own gorgeous fabrics (No. 6-10), Hype & Seek for vintage wallpapers and homewares (No. 3) and Clubhouse Lane Boutique (No. 2), for fashion-forward new and vintage shoes and clothes. Note: it's mostly closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Home help
Visit beloved staple One Rundle Trading for antiques and interiors (20 Stuart Road, Dulwich) and Church Studios, which mixes stand-out art and eye-catching furniture (234 Port Road, Alberton). Hit Saldechin for yum cha, martinis and tea, then shop for the accoutrements required to DIY (21 King William Street). Aptos Cruz in Stirling, in the Adelaide Hills, is a mecca for Australian and sustainable designers while the JamFactory serves up contemporary handmade design pieces from across the world (19 Morphett Street, city). Hit Magill Road, Norwood for furniture designer Khai Liew's pared-back beauties (No. 164) and second-hand fabrics at Redecorate (No. 146).
Fash & trash
The east end of Rundle Street is undergoing a renaissance with recent additions including sass & bide, Zimmermann, Lisa Ho, Jack London and Alannah Hill. But the pickings are just as rich for local designers: slip into Cherri Bellini for vertiginous heels by Mary-Kyri (No. 240), doyen Miss Gladys Sym Choon for emerging designers (No. 235A) and Mai-Loui for cocktail frocks (198A Hutt Street, city). In Hyde Park, brides flock to Liza Emanuele (92 King William Road). Adelaide staple Wild Child Style Lab kits out distinctive cross-generational street and club looks (169 King William Road).
Locals loveChocolate. It started with Haigh's in 1915 (2 Rundle Mall) but it's all gone crazy since with Cocolat's sinful truffles (283 Rundle Street), Chocolate Bean's chocolate soup (18 Union Street, city), Bracegirdle's Belgian apricot gems (31 Jetty Road, Glenelg) and Chocolate at No. 5's Marie Belle New York chocolate boxes, (5 Main Street, Hahndorf).
The fine print
South Australian Tourism Commission, 1300 764 227, southaustralia.com.
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