Highpoint Shopping Centre

Sooooo if you have read my reviews you will know I LOVE shopping centres, yeap I am that person. May I point out, I am also all about supporting small business but there is just something about shopping centres that gets me super excited! So highpoint a.k.a knife point haha, I have not been here in years, since I was about 15 and boy oh boy has it changed A LOT. The place is rather huge, with basically all the shops you need with multiple food courts and your overall shopping centre essentials.
Parking was an absolute nightmare, I’m talking more than usual, school holiday’s what a drainer but after about 20 mins we found a park, wwooohhooooo. I did note that there didn’t seem to be as many bargains as you generally come across in malls but this could just be due to the time of the year. The place is bright, clean and very easy to navigate unlike the good ol chaddy. Also lets talk about the toilets because wow, so very clean. I know who talks about toilets in a review but seriously I despise public bathrooms so these ones get a tick in my book.

Second time there and i am over it. It may have a larger selection of stores but deals are better at Essendon DFO. Southland has a better shopping experience overall. Hope the reno downstairs will be completed soon.

Yeah I come here all the time. More for the convenient location than anything else.
It’s gotten much better since it renovated.
This place gets chockers on weekends. And avoid coming here on Boxing Day sales!

Woah! Saturdays at Highpoint are pretty full on. Buttloads of people flock here because there’s so much to choose from. I mean the place is huge and it’s like a city shopping centre without being right in the city with the likes of Topshop and Zara. But you can still do your regular grocery shopping and get a cheap haircut at Just Cuts if that’s your jam.
Overall, Highpoint is ok by me but make sure you put on your walking shoes.

Usual Australian style shopping centrer.
Highpoint has the big wigs now-​Zara, Samsung, Apple, David Jones, Myers just to name a few. My favourite being Ben & Jerry’s down near Hoyts!
This is a child heavy area.
Numerous spots for parking, with quite a few areas 90minute only spots.
Useful place to grab a few things but generally is a bit strung out across the huge building.

Highpoint used to be the closest large shopping centre near my house, and even though it’s not anymore, since I’ve moved, I still find myself coming back to Highpoint almost weekly. Sometimes known as «Knifepoint», Highpoint is the Chadstone of the north western suburbs, with heaps of shops, a fresh fruit and vegetable area, and a supermarket, Highpoint probably has everything you’re looking for.
~ Finding a car parking space here (especially on the weekend) can be an absolute pain. They have recently introduced the «smart parks» where the so-​called «availability» of spaces are advertised with little green or red lights above each space. As all drivers probably know, this system generally not very accurate — and Highpoint is no different: don’t trust the parking numbers or light indicators, they’re notoriously inaccurate and the probability of finding a free spot that’s marked red (or most frustratingly, a taken spot that’s marked green) is very high. But if you do get a park, especially near the door, sit on it and never given it up! Pass it on to your kids! Update your will!
Protip: If you’re struggling to find a car parking space, I’ve found the two places that usually have the most availability is the car park near the new fruit market, or the top level parking area next to Rosamond Rd.
~ Highpoint had a bad reputation a few years ago due to the sporadic acts of violence from shoppers and gangs that used to frequent the shopping centre, perhaps due to its close proximity to Footscray or just the fact that it is in the western suburbs in general. Due to this it had been gifted with the name «Knifepoint». However, it has reformed a lot in the recent years, and, especially with the renovations and addition of the new section (which features a Samsung and Apple Store, a fruit market, Daiso, Topshop, etc.), Highpoint is a seemingly safe and lively destination to bring your kids or just yourself.
Quirks of Highpoint:
~ Because it has been renovated and bits have been added over a number of years, there’s not really any consistent design (the Big W section looks nothing like the Myer section, which looks nothing like the Apple Store section), which adds to the uniqueness of Highpoint that is rarely seen in other complexes.
~ The temperature variation is huge, and there doesn’t appear to be one single air conditioning section. The Hoyts end can get pretty warm, especially upstairs near Harris Scarfe, while the new section around the Apple Store, or the other end near Pandora can usually be quite chilly.
~ There is essentially one pathway from the old section to the new section. Expect to walk past Dusk and GNC about what feels like 100 times each visit.
~ The Hoyts cinemas here is the closest Hoyts to the CBD. You will very rarely get reception in the cinema here, even on Telstra.
As Highpoint is probably the biggest, most populous shopping centre this side of the city, as well as featuring the only Apple Store this side of the city, this is the ideal place to head to if you plan on doing some serious shopping. If you’re a guest of Melbourne and want to see what a suburban Melbourne shopping centre looks like, Highpoint is the place to go, and is the closest large centre to the city. But good luck getting a parking space!
NB: If you’re looking for top-​end or high-​fashion stores, your best bet is still Chadstone or the city. There’s no Prada, LV, Burberry, etc. here — but if you’re looking for your average fashion stores like Review, Topshop, etc. Highpoint is definitely a worthwhile visit.

Highpoint and I have a love hate relationship. I love shopping but hate crowds. My review here will be all about making highpoint awesome. How you say? Well go when everyone else isn’t there~ Sunday mornings are a dream and Thursday nights are bliss. Avoid Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. The new clothing and food section are wonderful and parking down this end is a lot less homicide inducing than parking in the old front section. I can recommend dumplings at dumplings plus for a snack and cupcake central for a chocolate malt milkshake that is out of this world!

I hate shopping centres (hmm maybe I should start all my reviews this way… Real positive vibe to it). It’s the people. It’s the car parking. It’s the lights.
But you know what? Highpoint is okay. It’s not (too) overwhelming. They have everything I need. The Mac store is spacious. There’s a big Woolies. There’s always a car park. There’s movies. There’s food. When they’re there, I’m there.

Monday afternoons at knifepoint are not so knifepointy at all!
Didn’t lose my temper stuck between people insisting to dawdle 4 people wide, I was in & out of the shops & salon in a very respectable time AND I didn’t miss the last bus like every other trip I make!
The new area with DJ’s, Zara etc looks great, Dumplings Plus tastes good, and I managed to walk into Myer right on closing, just so I could walk outside to the bus zone. #winning
If you take nothing else from my rambling, avoid on Fridays /​Weekends /​Thursday nights, heck — anytime but Monday afternoons!

Highpoint is the closest of the huge shopping centres of Melbourne to my house so I have been going here since I was born and have seen the never-​ending extensions which can be good but quite often a hindrance. Fairly easy to access by public transport there are 2 tram lines right by it and countless buses that stop here and there is plenty of parking although sometimes a mission to find an empty space. There are now 4 hr limits on some areas but I don’t know many who would need to go over this time limit. Overall there is a very wide selection of shops, restaurants, take away and Hoyts Cinema so there is plenty to keep everyone entertained. And no one I know refers to it as Knifepoint but I could definitely see where the nickname has come from.

Knifepoint is great in that it has everything you need under (several) roofs. Its unbearable on the weekends and trying to find car parking so best avoided esp. on Sundays. You may also want to take a note of where you parked your car and which entrance you used. Otherwise you can walk around in circles for a very long time. The actual Shopping Centre layout is not the best but maybe all shopping centres are like this?

It’s expanding and getting better, I have been going here for years and I haven’t been stabbed once ;)

Highpoint is the closest of Melbourne’s really large shopping centres to my house. While I find Highpoint very useful in some ways I also find it simply so big that it is actually confusing and its often hard to find shops that one wants because of the sheer size. The other issue is that they always seem to be doing some sort of renovations or building work there and that makes all sorts of things annoying.
Highpoint has every shop that you may possibly need — all under the one roof and has pretty good food for a shopping centre. But the place is just too big and there is no real structure to which shops are where — for example there is no particular area just for clothes shops etc.
The other huge problem with Highpoint is parking. Although the place is huge and has a big carpark it is often very difficult to find a spot. Being close to some of Melbourne’s poorer areas, a lot of poorer locals tend to just go to Highpoint in summer for the air conditioning and winter for the heating (seriously) as they cant afford these things in their own homes.
But all in all, if you know where to look for a parking spot (ie on the roof) and get to know Highpoint reasonably well it isnt so daunting…

Objectively speaking and from personal perspective, Highpoint is up there with the likes of Chadstone and Westfield Doncaster — but that’s from a store vs store comparison.
Everyone I know refers to Highpoint as Knifepoint which is pretty funny when you hear about it for the first time although there might reasonable grounds for such a term considering that Footscray is quite up there when it comes to unsafe suburbs in Melbourne.
Anyway, Highpoint Shopping Centre is quite close (approx. 20 mins drive) by car to the CBD. If you commute, the trip by tram will take you at least a half hour to get there.
Parking is free although there is a 4 hour parking restriction in some of the car park areas so make sure to check the website before you head there — that’s of course if you plan to breach this timeframe.
If you won’t be disappointed in terms of the stores available there — Just Jeans, Crumpler, Esprit, G Star, Glue, Kathmandu, Cotton On, The Body Shop, Perfume Connection, Bed Bath N’ Table, House, Matchbox, Myer, JB Hifi, CBA, ANZ and heaps more.
It’s always busy on weekend. as you would expect obviously.
If you’ve already been to Chadstone, Melbourne Central, Westfield Doncaster, Vic Gardens and the DFOs, it’s worth giving Highpoint a look.

Having been to a few different shopping centres in Melbourne now (Chadstone, Melbourne Central and Southern Cross) I admit that Highpoint isn’t that different but there are a few things worth noting.
Highpoint has all the normal chain stores you would expect like Myer, Big W, JB Hifi and supermarkets it’s just everything is a bit older and there’s not as many people which is great because it means all the bargains haven’t been cleared out by 905am.
I picked up a top-​quality business shirt for $ 15 on the clearance rack — I’m willing to bet the sheer numbers in the other shopping centres would’ve seen that shirt out the door far before I got to it.
Two things to beware: if you are driving, Highpoint is nicknamed knifepoint for good reason. Footscray is a lower-​income suburb and can be dodgy outside the stores.
If you aren’t driving, Highpoint is a looooong way from the city. At least 40 minutes on the tram and difficult to get to.
Still it’s worth a trip if you have the time, you’re more likely to get a bargain than at the other centres.