Villain

With three stores now, it’s nice to see that Villain offers a slightly different experience in each one. The Brunswick store seems to have everything crammed in there and it’s where you should head to first for your new release toys etc. The Fitzroy store is the flashy new kid on the block, with lots of space and room to fit some bigger items. This leaves the CBD store somewhere in the middle. It’s easily missed in its QV Laneway location, but it seems that anyone who does spot it while walking past finds it hard not to at least stop and check out the fantastic window full of designer toys.
There are some fantastic things to be found in here, from a small collection of shirts and hats, to (street) art supplies and to a great range of toys. If you’ve never come across designer vinyl toys before, you’ll probably wonder what all these silly little, bit great liking things are, many of which you don’t even know what they look like since they’re blind packaged in a box, just like a chocolate-​free, but much nicer Kinder Surprise. Pick one or two up, take them home, love them. You’ll be hooked. I got two overflowing cabinets full of them at home! Things tend to take their time to make it into this store though. I’ve enquirer about new releases a few times, only to be told that they’ll get there soon, but they’re probably already on the shelf in Brunswick.
A lot of street artists head here for their supplies. Last time I was here browsing around, four different people came in to stock up on paint. Most of the cans that people want look to be behind the counter, but there’s also a large display case with some in there, along with markers and some of the pricier toys.
So a trip to Villain could quite possibly send you broke. But at least this store is smaller and doesn’t have quite as much stock in it, so you might be left with enough for a coffee afterwards.

I wanted to get a cool t-​shirt by a local designer and so I went to Villain. There is a cool selection of t-​shirts to choose from, I get a t-​shirt by Stabs, a Melbourne street artist.
There was a small exhibition of Mummy dolls in the window: «Do Me! Mummy». The dolls had been decorated by various people; amazing creations, really beautiful and great to see what can be done with them. Villain does stock blank Mummy dolls and many other strange things. I wonder if a Mummy doll would be a good present for anyone I know.
There is a lot of cool stuff in this shop; memory sticks with Lego brick ends. After looking at their selection of t-​shirts and feeling undecided I browse their selection of books on street art. There is a zine by Civil, another notable Melbourne street artist. I must get that as well.