[Postcrossing]Where to get pretty postcard in Melbourne (2)

Following up on my last entry of Mission: finding postcards in Melbourne...
繼續發掘墨爾本可以買到漂亮明信片的地方。

Like I said before, Melbourne is a really hard place to get pretty postcards (Cards are easier, but really not Postcards). So I'm going to reveal more places / hide-outs where you can satisfy your desires for Postcrossing and collections.

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You would able to send and receive postcards for free all over the world.



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We really can't go without Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts...
It is really my favourite! Five stars out of Five stars!!

* 26 Acland Street, St Kilda 3182

Being the venue for Melbourne Annual Linden Postcard Show, the Centre also sells postcards printed from past and present exhibitions' entry, at the attractive price of $1 each. They are authentic local designer cards that smell the aurora of Melbourne!

And.. pay attention to the Date of the Postcard Show as well! It really can be ANYTIME of the year (2014 at Oct, but 2013 at March.. hehe). That would be discounts on the cards - buy one get one free in 2014!!

Buying your postcard online: Zazzle.com.au

My brother insists if you don't want to buy tourist card, your best bet is online. This statement is about 50% true in Melbourne. When I first began postcrossing, my instinct is also to start looking on the net (not many physical shops would come across you mind LOL).

Zazzle is an online retailer that allows users to upload images and create their own merchandise, or buy merchandise created by other users... (for more, check wiki). There are around 15000+ postcard items by now (LINK here), and if you search 'Australia' related product , 9000+ appeared (Wow!).

Prices are about one to two dollars each, shipping in Australia will cost you about $5.00.

Comments: A bit more expensive than cards you can get from shops (Tourist cards in City are about 70cents to 1dollar each, Penguin 100 postcard set is $29 for one pack). However, I cannot deny that most of them can't be found in anywhere else. Quality are averagely great, except there are bound to be a few stupid ones (not all image uploaders are talented photographers LOL)


My friend Kelly reminded me bookdepository.com (on 24 Jan 2015) also sells postcard sets.

Ooops... almost forgot this site (Haha!)

Lovely free shipping around the world, it has around 1000+ postcard related items - just search 'postcards' then filter it with 'stationary', you will see plenty of items.

Comments: Wonderful place to shop, it has basically everything you can get from Melbourne's local bookshops but prices are about 20% cheaper. So if you are thinking getting something from book stores, check this site first. (I got my 100 Jane Austen Set for $25.20 /Dymock price $29.99, and Secret Garden: 20 Postcards for $11.70 /Dymock price $19.00).

The problem is most card products from the BOOKDEPOSITORY have no detail images, which means buyer can only see the front cover but not how each cards looks like (Amazon does!) So I really need to spend some time google~ing.




Melbourne Zoo and Vic Market

If you wonder whether tourist attractions and special venues (eg. National Gallery, Melbourne Museum or Sea-Life Aquarium) have great cards, I can tell you that's not a lot of them. Most only have very tiny range, and similar substitutes can be found in Souvenir Shops in CBD.

Melbourne Zoo only sells FOUR varities of postcards - all animals (Snow Leopard, Koala, Mongoose, and I forgot the last one, maybe wombat), and they are only available in-zoo, which means you can't even purchase via the online shop (Haha!).

So you can debate internally about whether paying $30 admission (Adult price) is worthy to just get a few $1.00 cards.

Comment: ...yes, I have done that! The snow leopard card is utterly, utterly irresistibly cute!

Queen-Victoria Market is another spots that not good enough to get excited over, but not bad enough to forego without regret. Last time I visited (Nov 2014), there are only two shops have what we are looking for.
Both selling home-made designer cards, both belong to the expensive range. ($3-6 each)

IL PAPIRO: Florentine Paper Merchant
* Shop 5 Degraves st,  Melbourne 3000

It has a relatively small collection called 'Australiana Cards' that is visible online. These are the most expensive cards I have brought, but then, no real card-lovers would be able to resist the temptation of such exquisite cards with traditional fine printing methods.






I went to Chadstone in another day and found two shops that shine out.

Card & Caboodle *Shop B 136A, Chadstone Shopping Centre (Downstair)

KAISERCRAFT *Shop B092, Chadstone Shopping Centre

For Card & Caboodle, I saw 5-6 different prints of Melbourne city-view card in-store. Their online store got a few more options, but I didn't see them in store at all.

KaiserCraft does not outrightly deal with any postcard, yet they sell journal cards with amazing patterns, which are in right sizes and rigid enough to pass as postcards. Moreover, they also sell wooden envelope templates that help you carve out paper envelope from colourful paper you choose! (if your postcrossing partner request an envelope)




And Finally......

AVANT Cards and their venues: where you can get free cards.

Avant Card: Postcard Printing and National Distribution is an media campiagn company who helps organisation to distribute their ad-cards. Well, I am not telling you to be their customer, I am saying it is a great chance for freebies!

Because AVANT not only circulates ad-cards for commercial purpose, it also prints art cards for arising artists and education cards for schools (for free! amazing!!). Those are available in public venues such as cafes, cinemas and libraries. I happened to pick up a few free AVANT art cards from Prahran Market corner and they remain my favourite all-time!

Download their National Venue Network List to see which place is close to you.




That's about everything I got on hand at the moment. I will keep updating this post later when I found another great shop. Again, like I said before, I'm never an expert of all suburbs, so please leave me a comment if you want to share a postcard shop you love!

如果你知道在哪裡可以買到更可愛、更有特色的明信片，歡迎留言！