Pop Up Market Review - Westfield Knox Shopping Centre

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Posted 2015-06-30 by Jen ⇒ follow

Westfield Knox shopping centre is my stomping ground, my go-to place when I go shopping. Luckily I checked my Weekend Notes as usual to see what was happening for the weekend. The pop-up market at Knox and the makers and farmers market at Mulgrave caught my attention as they were close to home and needless to say I attended both.

Arriving at Knox via my usual entrance I was a bit annoyed that the road to the car park had been closed off for the market. Being pretty useless at finding my way around, I didn't bother driving the outskirts of the shopping centre to find the entrance to the car park from the other side. Instead I opted to drive up and down many rows looking for parking around the cinema area. Parking sorted, time to go check it all out.

Surprisingly there were enough stalls to make you forget you were actually at a huge shopping centre. The ambiance of a market made me feel right at home with plenty of seating unlike your regular markets. Bonus!

More market dates to follow are held on Sundays and will be on August 30th; October 25th; and November 29th, 2015. Below are some of the stalls of many that impressed me.

At the entrance helping cordon off the road was an old mobile retail tram/shop called Birney & Co - the old clothing trade run by Leilani Chen whom you can see 4 pictures down, looking pretty as a picture. Her business card is aptly styled like a tram ticket which was a nice touch I thought. This stall specialises in hand-picked, one-of-a-kind clothing. They have new, vintage and high quality donated clothes which they source both locally and internationally for men and women. They're also happy to receive donations of clothing. Check out their Facebook page.

The ladies from Piccaninny Rugs (pic above) just ooze quality and care in their products. They've got beautifully hand made large play rugs that would easily fit 4 adults and a couple of kids on it. In a world of plastic and machine manufactured products, it's almost a pleasant pause to immerse oneself in something handmade so well. They had juggling balls, amazing puzzle balls that actually came apart like a puzzle, (what a great idea for kids to develop their skills) and some fabric balls light as a feather that actually bounced. Tis because they have an actual balloon encased in them which you can replace when it starts to deflate, and you can wash the ball itself. Very clever ladies.

With lots of seating and a couple of musicians strolling through the market, the mood was set to have a seat and relax in between shopping and gormandising. You also had the choice of the foodie strip at Knox which has an amazing number of restaurants and cafes leading up to the cinemas.

Sajo Pottery & Ceramic Studio below whose website doesn't seem to be working for me, (www.sagoceramics.com), nor does it appear they have a Facebook page; were however impressive on the ground. They had someone actually demonstrating as they run classes at their place of business at 11 Lillypilly Lane, Kilsyth South (lets hope this information is correct as per their business card). They also connect for casual social sessions and offer casual studio access, firing services and stock clay and materials. You'll have to give them a call as per contact details on the picture below to find out more.

I'd like to call Fiorenchantment the mushroom stall as they had gorgeous brightly coloured mushrooms calling out to passers-by with their 'cute-factor'. Other than the Faerie Mushrooms, you'll also find Faerie Flowers, Funky Funghi, Martian Mushrooms and lots more. They'd be quite enchanting to have around for sure. Check out their Facebook page .

As mentioned previously you have Birney & Co in the pic below alongside Jakob's Kitchen who sell some amazing authentic European Chevapi and smokehouse gourmet sausages at their pop-up kitchen/street food van. Have a look at their website and drool! The two other stalls in the picture; one was selling vintage retro look baby goods and the other silver jewellery made out of pure silver and stamped with any name, pet paw print or kiddies hand/foot prints. The imprint of your beloved pet or family member would be shrunk down to size and imprinted onto a piece of jewellery. Very sentimental for that special gift I'd say.

Last but not least in the picture is the lovely Justine from Bubidi Boo who stocks children's clothing, hair and beauty supplies and accessories; a nice little gift shop. You can catch her next at Belgrave South's 'Rockabilly' themed market . Justine hand makes some amazing well made items that include gorgeous denim shoulder bags and I've most certainly bought quite a few adornments for my daughter's hair from her.

I took a couple of steps backward for Rusted pictured below as they had a lot of Mexican inspired goods short of the Lucha Libre wrestling masks. They import jewellery, clothing and unusual handmande items from Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Morocco, Spain and all around the world. They's also source unique goods on request. They personally visit villages around the world to source their goods and support fair-trade. You'll also find a lot of hand made, mosaic and painted items made by the artistic lady of the stall.

Last but not least, these two gorgeous charming smiling girls you see below from Those Girls got my attention as did their warm non-alcoholic apple cider drink. It was like slurping down an apple pie with hints of cinnamon and other spices. It was surprisingly hot like a good hot cup of coffee should be, and came with a bit of pastry like a miniature doughnut ball on a stick. You cannot believe how soothing it is to drink such a comforting delicious tasting drink on a cold morning. Well done Those Girls for coming up with that amazing business name. As they put it, if people can't remember who they are, they just might go, 'it's those girls'; oh yeah, that's their name, and don't you forget it!

Little did I know they had appeared on the tv show Shark Tank until another customer recognised them and asked if they were one and the same. They got awarded the 'dosh' thank you very much, from investor Steve Baxter. Deservedly so as you can smell success off them from their lovely approach and wonderful product. Good luck Lauren and Elena! I can most certainly visualise you rising to the realms of other entrepreneurial ladies like Boost Juice founder Janine Allis and The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick.

The combined talent of these life-long friends doesn't end there either. Elena is quite the artist and painted the impressive 'Snow White' you see in the picture. Thus ended my lovely morning at Knox's pop-up market. Will definitely go again to the next one in two months time.