This week's best shopping events

Calling all cost-conscious brides! If your wedding budget is blowing over, we’re here to help. From Saturday, March 29 until Friday, April 4, the Vinnies Waverley store will transform into a wonderland of discounted delights, with a huge selection of new and pre-loved wedding gowns, suits, bridesmaids’ dresses, formalwear, and accessories (including jewellery and shoes). According to Vinnies, the average Australian wedding now costs $36,000 – so any cost-saving measure to lighten that load is a welcome gift. Back in 2023, Vinnies launched their first ever bridal expo, attracting 674 customers over three days of shopping, and helping to raise money for the organisation’s charitable mission. Later this month, the mega sale is coming back – bigger and better than ever. This year’s event will feature more than 500 wedding dresses, 200 of which are brand new, plus outfits for your bridal party and accessories galore. Mapping out your budget? All brand new dresses will be priced at $300, and all pre-loved dresses will be priced at $50. You’ll find the Vinnies bridal expo at Vinnies Waverley, 253-259 Bronte Road, Waverley. The store will be open from 9.30am until 5.30pm Monday through Saturday and from 10am until 5pm on Sunday. It’s a first-in, best-dressed situation, with last year’s event attracting queues down the street as budget-savvy brides-to-be waited to snap up their cut-price finds. Our advice? Grab a coffee and a sambo from Frank’s Deli (a few doors down), and get in...

It’s imperative that you do not eat before you visit the Carriageworks Farmers Markets. You’ll want to save maximum belly space for your personal version of The Bachelorette where you decide who gets your dollars and what delicious produce gets to come home with you. Maybe you like something soupy and savoury first thing? In that case head to Bar Pho for a traditional Vietnamese start to the day. On the veggie train? Hit up Keppos St Kitchen for a falafel breakfast, or head to Food Farm for a classic bacon and egg roll.Once the hounds of your hunger have been quieted it’s time to prepare for your next meal, or seven. Stock up on artisan cheese from Leaning Oak, smoked salmon from Brilliant Foods and Sydney’s favourite sourdough from AP Bakery and brunch is sorted. You can spend a whole lot of money if you want to here, but equally you could just grab a kombucha on tap from Herbs of Life and find a chair for some of the best dog-watching in the city.  Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, travel tips and city insights, straight to your inbox. Hungry for more? Look at our list of the best markets in Sydney – produce or otherwise. 

Every Saturday, more than 100 stalls line the grounds of Paddington Uniting Church and the neighbouring public school selling Australian-made fashion, handmade crockery and metal costume jewellery. The market has been operating on the same day since 1973, and the all-weather event is a profitable fundraiser for the church. Many of the stallholders return week on week, like the elderly Japanese couple selling Bonsai trees and the Spanish shoemakers selling espadrilles. It’s predominantly an art, clothing and design market – and alongside the kitsch bric-à-brac and Australiana-print tea towels you’ll find straw hats from local milliners and soft Tunisian-made ‘Turkish’ towels from young Eastern Suburb entrepreneurs. Antique, vinyl and vintage stalls are few and far between, but leather satchels, beach photography prints and patterned baby rompers are two a penny. On a hot day locals gather at the shaded tables and stools by the snack stalls. Turkish women hand roll yufka dough at the gözleme tent and vegetables are blitzed in a blender at the fresh juice stand. Chin’s Laksa stall, proudly MSG and gluten free, is a popular choice – as are the vegan cookies and sourdough scones on offer at the bakery stalls. It has a bohemian flair compared to its Oxford Street location and customers joyfully take up fortune readings, as well as reiki and Japanese massage. It’s an oddball mix, but one that works strangely well in an area known for its designer boutiques and gentrified pubs....

A new wardrobe doesn’t have to mean popping tags on hundreds of dollars worth of swag, especially when you’re shopping at this long-standing secondhand market in Rozelle. The schoolyard of the Rozelle Public School has been a hive of weekend crate digging for more than 20 years, and while some stalls have almost earned long service leave, there are always newcomers keen to swap their good and chattel for some cold hard cash.The market runs on Saturdays from 9am to 3pm, and you can find bargains for less than you’d spend on a coffee – it’s all about the chase. Don’t be afraid to dig down into the tables of tops and skirts, T-shirt piles and racks of leather jackets. And if you don’t need vintage boots, a floral dress or a designer bargain, stroll through stalls selling antiques, cut glass crystal, old suitcases, DVDs, furniture and bric-a-brac. When you’re completely overstimulated head to the top right corner of the market where a handful of food stalls sell Himalayan fare, fresh juices squeezed on demand, gozleme, and dim sum. Because it’s a school there are no soft drinks sold on site, but a watermelon and rockmelon juice should sort out any dusty heads, and if nothing in the second-hand market grabs your attention, you can always grab a plant from the garden stall on your way out.   Want to know about markets in other parts of Sydney? Here's our guide.

Looking for a wholesome weekend activity that immerses you in French culture without the hefty plane fare? Oui, oui!  Well, put on your best beret and hop on over to Le Marché – French Markets at the Entertainment Quarter in the heart of Sydney. Spend a leisurely Sunday morning walking through more than 45 market stalls of French delights. From choux buns and Champagne to colourful berets and escargot, there is an abundance of French items to satisfy even the fussiest shopper. Très bien! Stock up your pantry at Le Marché’s culinary corner, a pocket of the market that you might liken to a French supermarket. Fill your baskets and mouths with farm-fresh eggs, truffles, baked treats, duck confit and, of course, all the French cheese your heart desires. Practise your high school French (which you’ve probably forgotten, except for 'bonjour') on the friendly artisans selling striped Breton t-shirts, colourful berets, linen tablecloths, straw baskets and more. Now we don’t know about you, but devouring croissants, macarons and boeuf bourguignon sounds like heaven to us. At the Entertainment Quarter, you can celebrate all things French at these fabulous markets.  Explore Le Marché – French Markets on the first Sunday of every month at the Entertainment Quarter. Find out more via the website here.

If Bondi Markets were a person, they would a) be very healthy, and b) wearing two (organic) hats. Each weekend, Bondi Public School plays host to two different markets, with the Saturday edition bringing the Bondi Farmer's Market, and the Sunday bringing general marketware, fashion and vintage goods.  The Farmer's Market is an excellent way to kick off your weekend, with the old primary school playground playing host to a variety of lush local produce stalls, freshly fried fritters and brunchy delights a' plenty. There’s also doggy ‘parking’, live acoustic music and pop-up yoga classes on the lawn, with the festivities going until 5pm. In inclement weather the markets still go ahead, but often with reduced stalls. They also don’t open until 9am, so if you’re an early bird, pop across to the beach first for a walk or swim. Once you stock your fridge on Saturday, you can head back again on Sunday for the general fashion and market extravganza that kicks off from 10am to 4pm. Peruse the stalls for vintage finds, sustainable swimwear, delectable market eats and hidden treasures, all within close viewing distance of Sydney's most polarising beach. 

Fans of expertly curated market events such as the Finders Keepers will be happy to know there is a bi-monthly market offering a comparable experience a stone’s throw from Luna Park. The second Sunday of every month sees the art, design and fashion iteration of Kirribilli’s historic (est 1976) markets, centred on the weather-proof location of the Burton Street Tunnel right under Milsons Point Train station.  You’ll find quirky millinery by Nitascraft, hilarious knitted parrots, octopuses and Barbie outfits by Irene, and cool laser-etched wooden phone cases by Bare-wood. An antiques corner features groovy typewriters from the 1960s and several stalls offer funny and handmade greeting cards. Vintage spoons are refashioned as bracelets, and if you’ve ever hankered after a large photographic portrait of a wombat, you can get it here – the place is a goldmine for non-tacky Sydney souvenirs. On the last Saturday of the month is the general and fashion market, where punters have been known to snap up luxurious, one-of-a-kind finds from labels like Gucci, Zimmermann and Acne, thanks to the well-heeled crowds selling their wares. Arrival by train is recommended as parking is expensive and hard to come by.  There is an excellent food court area where you can get a roast pork roll, quesadillas, churros, gözleme, paella, blynis, dim sum, banh mi or gelato and sit down undercover to eat them while watching a talented teenage girl reinventing ‘Sweet Child ‘o Mine’. Afterwards, head...

These North Sydney markets stake the claim for being Sydney’s longest continuously running produce market (we can’t verify it, but we won’t disagree) and the quality and range of the vendors makes this evident. Snaking through the seemingly small parklet on the northern CBD’s fringe, this bimonthly produce fair brings stallholders peddling orbs of creamy burrata, blood sausages, double-fist-sized heirloom tomatoes, salted caramel meringues, fresh egg pasta, free range eggs and soda bread. A seeming theme here is that many of the stallholders are also chefs, like Luca Ciano, whose jarred pasta sauces and Italian olive oil dressings are excellent Italian treats; or Martin Teplitzky, who will fry you up a golden croque madame, with Iggy’s bread and ham off the bone. This is a market where you go to invest in the good stuff – you’re paying a bit extra for the handcrafted goods, but a quick chat with the passionate stallholders (or better yet taste testers) will have you sold and walking out with a canvas bag packed full with produce and snacks for the week.  

This sustainable, environmentally-focused market is all about community connection and local makers, with it coming to Summer Hill on the first and third Sunday of every month. Coming from the fresh minds behind the Erskineville Farmers’ Market, these sunny stalls are dedicated to fresh produce, dairy-based goods, colourful blooms, locally crafted pottery and other fun trinkets.  You’ll find pastries and bread from the butter and flour masters at Brickfields, bagels from Brooklyn Boy Bagels, coffee by Hugo's Coffee Cartel, soft and smooth rounds from Western Sydney fave Grate Cheese Co, and a farmyard of produce provided by Blue Mountains' Hartley Harvest. This all comes to the forecourt of the heritage Mungo Scott building in the Flour Mill at Summer Hill from 9am to 1pm.  Want to find other epic local produce in Sydney? Check out our list of the best markets in Sydney