Victoria Gardens

This is your standard suburban shopping centre. Despite being on the smaller side in terms of major fashion retailers and department stores, it covers all the basics you want and need for the day to day.
Coles, Kmart, IKEA, Freedom, Hoyts and Fitness First are the big box retailers. There is also a small selection of fashion & homewares retailers (Cotton On, Giordano, Katies, Adairs, Typo), a food court and other fresh food options such as a butcher, bakery, fishmonger, green grocer and chicken store.
I have also used the Key Cutting & Shoe Repair kiosk in this centre and they have performed a good job on all repairs (but might be a bit expensive as I haven’t compared their prices to other places yet).
The car park can be a nightmare on weekends and in peak times and used to be free for the first hour without any purchases but now you must scan your docket from Coles or IKEA (and maybe a few other retailers so check) to get it for free. Otherwise it’s $ 1 for an hour. Reasonable enough!
All in all its a good simple local shopping centre.

Victoria gardens is personally my favourite shopping Centre! Unlike northland it is not so big that you get lost and can’t find your way around. And unlike northcote plaza it actually has useful shops. Victoria gardens has lots of clothes shops for example cotton on, kmart, tempt, jeans west etc it also has a very big food court and food for all your fussy family members. It has a cinema which always comes in handy when you have nothing to do. One of my favourite things about Victoria gardens is of course ikea, what would you do with out ikea oh yeah NOTHING! The ikea in vic gardens is very big and it has a childcare program where you just say «take my kids while I shop at ikea» and then POOF kid free.
Vic Gardens includes boost, pet shop, various 2 dollar shops, sushi, Coles, dimmocks, dick smith, bakers delight etc I believe that this shopping centre couldn’t get any better

Great open, light filled centre, easy access car park. I’d been shopping in the CBD and swung past here on the way back from an appointment and really appreciated the easy parking, etc. I’ve mentioned above.
I did come during non-​peak hours so didn’t experience the IKEA crush other people are talking about. The centre was mostly empty at around 6pm on a Tuesday night so I was able to be in and out in 35 – 40 minutes.
Note: It’s not Market Lane Coffee as some of the pics uploaded for here would suggest. :)

I actually think this is a fantastic shopping centre. It is not huge but it has a very friendly vibe with all the basics inside. Kmart, Ikea, Hoyts, Food court, Coles, A gym, plus many more. It is always clean and tidy & the all the shops are always open. They often have little pop up stalls throughout with some really fantastic bargains. The shoe man is also one of the best I have come across and I have A LOT of heels which means A LOT of shoe repairs needed.

If it wasn’t for Vic Gardens I don’t know what I would do!
Ikea, Kmart, Coles plus cinemas etc etc this is not bad for it’s size.
If I could change one thing it would be this:
Please go away annoying kiosk people in the centre of the walk ways, I don’t want to buy your «goods».
Everyone is always über well dressed at this shopping centre and feels very Richmond. Nice change from slumming it in Darwin.

For almost everyone other than local residents, Vic Gardens is not really their first choice when it comes to shopping centres. Chadstone, Melbourne Central or even Westfield Doncaster are generally preferred. In fact, when people hear Vic Gardens, they think IKEA.
Well, yeah IKEA is there but this place is home to plenty more stores… Adairs, EB Games, Cotton On, Coles, Matchbox, KMart, Hoyts, OPSM and Vodafone to name a few. Fitness First also have a gym there.
In the food court, you’ll find Subway, KFC, Sushi Sushi, Maccas, Bakers Delight and loads more. There is also a fruit shop ‘Toscanos’ which is very good.
Tram 109 will get you there and, for those who are driving; the first hour is free. Stay for 2 and pay a measly $ 1 and so on…

The one stop, inner suburb shopping centre anchored by IKEA. You’ll also find Kmart, Coles, Freedom Furniture, Howard’s Storage World, Cotton On, and several other small retailers.
Pretty decent food court, actually well represented with choice from several cultures around the world such as Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Lebanese besides typical Aussie fare. There’s also a KFC and Maccas. It gets PACKED at lunch time seven days a week (I know, I used to work at Ikea for a while and have had my share of Ikea food).
Highlights of this place include the Kingpin Bowls, Café Krifi (excellent food you must eat there!), fishmonger (really really fresh and well priced seafood), Toscanos the green grocers. Oh there’s a Hoyts as well, good if you want to avoid the general messy crowds of the CBD cinemas.
Parking is all undercover, and this centre is easily accessible via the 109 tram and the 48 as well. You’d want to avoid it on the weekends as crowds throng this place for Ikea especially.

As far as shopping centres go, I’m a huge fan of this one. It definitely has a different «theme» (for of lack of a better word) than a huge shopping centre such as Melbourne Central. For one, it doesn’t have the enormous amount of clothing stores/​boutiques you will find in the city. However, what it does have…
~ Coles, for all your grocery store needs.
~ IKEA, for all your home needs.
~ A bar, for all your alcoholic needs.
~ Movie theatre.
~ Etc, etc.
Essentially, what it lacks in clothing stores makes up for with good quality domestic-​shopping and a few entertainment things going on.
One thing that could definitely be improved is the food court. Too limited on the selections to the point where IKEA food ends up on top.