MuzInk

By EVA WILAND
Pony Lounge & Dining, Sydney’s latest eatery, opened its doors yesterday to a crowded guest list. The eatery, located at The Rocks Centre, on the corner of Argyle Street and Kendall Lane, in Sydney’s historical old town district, has as a focal point a dramatic open kitchen with a wood fire grill and unusual cow hide counter.

AFRN thought: We were suitably impressed with this eatery and for the time we were there, the sampling of the food was commendable...

The Westfield Group has unveiled plans for its $600 million retail and office redevelopment of Sydney’s CBD, linking the Centrepoint, Imperial Arcade and Skygarden properties.

By EVA WILAND
Macro Wholefoods Market tentatively opened its doors last week to curious shoppers at the site of the former Five Star gourmet supermarket at Crows Nest, on Sydney’s lower north shore.

AFRN thought: Macro has certainly brought organic food retailing into the mainstream market...

By EVA WILAND
Thousands of shoppers flocked to the new Rhodes Shopping Centre last week in a former industrial area in Sydney’s near west which has been rezoned for residential and shopping developments.

AFRN thought: Rhodes shopping centre is certain to be a successful centre...

By EVA WILAND
David Jones’ newly opened refurbished cosmetics and accessories floors at its flagship store in Sydney's Elizabeth Street represent the retailer’s most ambitious store program yet.

By EVA WILAND
The Build-a-Bear Workshop opened to crowds of Australian bear fans yesterday at Westfield Bondi Junction, in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs, where a children, parents and grandparents alike queued to stuff and clothe their new animal toys.

AFRN thought: Build-a-Bear has a special magic about it which warms the heart of young and old.

By EVA WILAND
Nine Green Bottles – Fine Oil and Vinegar, the first Australian retailer to specialise in Australian extra virgin olive oils and vinegars, opened for trade in High Street, in the inner Melbourne suburb of Armadale last month.

AFRN thought: Liz Compton and husband Marc are determined their novel retail concept will prove wrong the prophecy of the old song in which one bottle after another accidentally falls from the wall...

By MURRAY WHITE
It’s the explosion of vivid primary lollipop colours which stops passing shoppers in their tracks. They stop, look, and then smile when they realise that this is a new-generation lolly shop.

Not many shopping centres can boast a new tenant who has this effect on passers-by. This is Sugar Fix, “wickedly fine sweets”, a new concept in high quality confectionery retailing at Warringah Mall shopping centre on Sydney’s northern beaches and Westfield Miranda, in Sydney’s south.

By MURRAY WHITE
Woolworths’ newest supermarket in Sydney, a quirky, boot-shaped 1250sq m store at Potts Point, cheek by jowl with the inner eastern suburbs’ notorious Kings Cross, opened to expected boom trading and then settled in its second week to a satisfactory 10% above-budget trading. The new store will give the much longer established Coles supermarket housed in the building below the famous Coca-Cola neon sign at the top of William Street a real shake.

Customers don’t often write letters expressing heart-felt thanks for a new store’s opening, but they have written to Woolworths store management in significant numbers which suggest a superior customer service wedge can be driven into the Coles business.

By EVA WILAND
Australian fashion forecasters predict the most likely trends to migrate down under from the catwalks of Europe and the USA next winter are the mixing of distinct items for individual looks, bejewelled garments and the use of accessories such as brooches and bows.

At the Fashion Group International’s “fashion flash” yesterday, the main styles emanating from the slide show of 2004-05 winter fashion collections in Paris, Milan, London and New York were furs; jewelled encrusted garments; eclectic mixes of items; cardigans; and coats and capes.