By Nathan Murua
The Brimbank Community Market is held at 614 Ballarat Road, Ardeer and is a privately owned Australian company. They aim to develop the site into an iconic attraction, hopefully making it a valuable addition to the western suburbs. It’s more than just a traditional weekend market, stalls are an attraction alone. The stalls provide fine products and services. They also offer a great atmosphere around the market. The market boasts a wide variety of entertainment in a huge area such as a circus, amusements, children’s play area, a traditional sumo wrestling ring and other activities. The main objective of the Brimbank Community Market is to provide a family friendly environment. They have planned events such as the sumo wrestling but they have much more such as dart competitions, basketball, football, soccer shoot outs, tug of war, cooking competitions, traditional folk dancing and musical entertainment. Brimbank Community Market welcome community groups and the general public to participate in the events and competitions they organise.
Footscray Market is a large indoor venue with a wide variety of produce and general goods, all of which is opposite of the Footscray Railway Station. This crazy, covered food market is surrounded by seductive produce. You can be sure to find lotus flowers, pig’s ears, coriander and cassava root and also an excellent range of fresh seafood. The Footscray Market has 33 food and 50 general goods stalls. The market is running 7.am – 4.pm Tuesday and Wednesday, 7.am – 6.pm Thursday, 7.am – 8.pm Friday and 7.am – 4.pm on Saturdays. The Footscray Market is not to be confused with the Melbourne Wholesale Market which is often referred to as the Footscray Traders Market.
The Laverton Rubble and Riches Market is also known as the Laverton Market which was shortened locally for the public. It’s a great market place to go buy new and secondhand things with 1400 stalls selling a huge variety of items at great prices. There are also two large pavilions to provide an undercover area so nothing and nobody will get wet. It’s a great place for all sorts of people to sell their antique to new items. The stalls sell lots of goods ranging from clothing, arts, crafts, tools, machinery, electronic goods, plants and fresh produce. The Laverton Market is located on 14 hectares at 8-18 Leakes Road, Laverton with over 1,000 car spaces. It’s not too far from the Westgate Freeway and about 10-15 minutes drive from Melbourne’s CBD.
The St.Albans Market is relatively small but is fruitful within the produce market and is boasted online by White Hat as offering some of the better value food shopping in Melbourne. You will find a strong representation of Central European foods such as Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian and Greek foods. Most of the local shops that run in or around the market have been known to sell a good selection of smoked meats and sausages in the central European style. It’s a great market for all the local shops and of course for the public to shop around for fresh produce. The St.Albans Market is opened 6.am – 6.pm Thursday, 6.am – 7.pm Friday, and 6.am – 2.pm Saturdays.
Hope to see you there down the market.