Fashion
Queen Victoria Building
(http://www.qvb.com.au/in) the city centre is a renowned, beautifully maintained, 19th century sandstone building, home to over 400 stores. the stores in the building are laid out in a hierarchical style- literally. the basement level has cheap, casual-fashion stores with a food court, the street level mid-range brand-name chains and level 3 is where various australian designers, some european labels and italian shoe stores are located. it is one of sydney's more photogenic pieces of architecture. located on george st adjacent to town hall and pitt st mall.
Castlereagh Street
In the city centre is lined by many of sydney's most expensive european-label boutiques and jewellery stores.
Pitt Street Mall
Is a pedestrian mall in the city centre. it is one block long between market street and king street and is one of australia's busiest and most cosmopolitan shopping precincts. despite the areas small size, it is home to many flagship chain stores. it has now become a part of westfield sydney.
Oxford Street
Just east of the city is lined with shops, bars and nightclubs. the section between taylor square and queen st, woollahra is particularly good for mid-high end australian fashion designers and boutiques. some of these boutiques and other fashion retailers sell at paddington markets (http://www.paddingtonmark...), which are held in the grounds of the paddington public school every saturday from 10am.
DFO
(http://www.dfo.com.au) is a place to shop for brand name fashions at discount prices. it is located near sydney olympic park at the corner of homebush bay drive and underwood road. by public transport, take the 525/526 bus from strathfield station to the last bus stop on underwood road.
Warringah Mall
(http://www.warringahmall....) is a large cheerful mall on the northern beaches on a sprawling complex that includes dolphin-featured waterfalls and sunny courtyards
Australia's unique style and creativity means Sydney is developing on the international fashion circuit, as designs from Australians such as Wayne Cooper, Collette Dinnigan, Akira Isogawa, Lisa Ho, Oroton and Easton Pearson are seen around the globe. In fact, around 60 Australian labels are currently exporting their designs to boutiques and department stores in Asia, Europe and the United States.
The greatest concentration of clothing and accessories stores are to be found in the northern half of the CBD, starting from the Town Hall precinct, neat the Queen Victoria Building.
Department stores
There are only two of these in the city centre, myer (http://www.myer.com.au) and david jones (http://www.davidjones.com.au), located practically next door to each other near the pitt street mall, and joined by an above-ground covered pedestrian walkway. both offer your standard department-store range of goods.
Queen Street
In woollahra also east of the city is an upmarket shopping destination with high-end boutiques, food and homewares stores.
Westfield Shopping Centres
Westfield Shopping Centres (http://www.westfield.com.au) Large shopping malls at Bondi Junction, Chatswood, Parramatta, and Miranda. The Bondi Westfield offers the most upmarket experience, with many European fashion labels available. All are easily accessible by car and public transport, see the district articles for details.
See the Sydney District Pages for things to buy in the City, and other Sydney districts.
Most stores will accept VISA/Mastercard credit cards, and only a few take only cash. American Express is generally accepted only at larger stores.
postcards
Sydney postcards are least expensive at post offices AUD 0.75, where you can buy stamps from as well. Convenience and souvenir stores may sell a wider range of more expensive postcards, but generally they do not sell stamps. An overseas stamp for a postcard costs AUD 1.60 (http://www.auspost.com.au/pac/).
food and essentials
Prices are inflated in convenience stores and in tourist areas, and it is worth seeking out the supermarkets - even in the city centre. The main Supermarket Chains in Sydney are Woolworths (http://www.woolworths.com.au), Coles (http://www.coles.com.au), Franklins (http://www.franklins.com.au) and Aldi (http://www.aldi.com.au). See the local guides for locations.
opening hours
Main department stores and speciality stores open around 9am and close around 6pm, staying open until 9pm on Thursday. On Sunday expect them to open around 10am in the suburbs, and around 11am in the city centre, and to close at 5pm. There are a few locations where you will find shops opening a little later, such as Darling Harbour which is open until 9pm every weeknight.
Large supermarkets will be open from 6am until midnight.
Many convenience stores, fast-food restaurants and petrol stations within the Sydney metro area are open 24 hours a day.
Banks will usually only open weekdays, with only an occasional branch opening Saturday morning. Travel agents not including booking agents in tourist areas close on Sundays.
souvenirs
Those quintessential Aussie souvenirs - stuffed koalas and kangaroos, various "Australiana" knick-knacks - can be found in any souvenir store around the city, as well as in airport shops. Authentic Aboriginal/indigenous arts and crafts, such as traditional paintings, hand-made didgeridoos, are expensive, and the range in Sydney is much smaller than in Alice Springs. For those who only wish to take home a replica, as a memento of their trip to Australia, head to Paddy's Markets (http://www.paddysmarkets....) in the Haymarket area of the southern end of the city. The markets also sell a huge range of souvenirs at much better prices than regular souvenir stores. Dollar shops see "Food and Essentials" below also sell souvenirs at bargain-basement prices, albeit at a much reduced quality.
currency exchange
As with the rest of Australia, currency exchange offices operate in a free market, and the small convenient exchange booth you pass on George Street, by the Opera House or at the airport can charge 15% or more over the best rate you can obtain elsewhere. As always, check rates and commission carefully. Know today's rate and be prepared to walk away if the amount of money they calculate isn't what you would expect. Banks typically offer much better rates, but are only open business hours on weekdays.
You may find it better to pay by credit card and use ATM withdrawals and have the certainty of getting the rate and fees provided by your bank.