A guide to op-shopping in Melbourne based around a route I took a couple of days ago centred around 3 main areas – Footscray, Moonee Ponds and Brunswick.

Get a daily zone 1 metcard and you can travel around to all these places by train, tram and bus.

I started out in North Melbourne, but wherever you start you want to head out on the train towards Footscray. For a shorter trip you can just go there, but other options are to go further down the line to Yarraville and /or Williamstown.

Williamstown: You get the Werribee train and get off at Newport for a connection to Williamstown. Get off at the very next stop (Williamstown Nth) and it’s a short walk up station st and onto Stevedore St where there is a Uniting Care op shop.

Having never been to Williamstown before, rather than heading straight back to the station I kept going down to the waterfront and then followed the path around to the main Williamstown shopping area, so I ended up getting the train at Williamstown station.

Yarraville. Back on the train you can get off at Yarraville, a couple of stops before Footscray there’s a small op shop on the the main shopping street just to the east of the station.

Footscray. The highlight of Footscray is the huge Footscray Savers store on Albert St, but also just around the corner there is a Salvos on Barkly St. Near the interesection of Barkly & Droop you can get on the 82 tram.

Maribyrnong. Get the 82 as far as Maribyrnong Rd which starts when you cross the Maribyrnong river. Get off at the stop after Epsom Rd and there’s a Vinnies just across the Rd. There’s also a Unitingcare shop a bit further up the Rd near the interesection with Union Rd (but I didn’t see this one until I was already back on the tram). From here there’s a couple of options as to what to do. You can get the 57 tram back to the city via North Melbourne. There’s a Salvos on Errol St Nth Melbourne, but I think you pass at least a couple of other stores on the 57 route as well. The other option (which I took) is to get back on an 82 and head up to where it terminates at Moonee Ponds.

Moonee Ponds. The 82 terminates at a big intersection with lots of bus terminals and the 59 tram from the city nearby as well. Walk along the main Rd to get to Hall St on your left, then just after the shopping centre you take Everage St on your right, there’s a small op shop down there. Afterwards go to the end of the street and turn left, and as you approach the train station there’s a big Brotherhood of St Laurence store. From here there’s lots of options. A train back to the city, or a 59 tram to the city. Also there are a number of buses which head over to Sydney Rd at Brunswick (504, 506, 508). The option which I took was to get on the train and head one stop further out to Essendon (59 tram also goes there).

Essendon. Very close to the train station (Russell St, just near the bus stops) there’s a small op shop. Once again, if you’ve had enough from here you can get back to the city by train, but if you want more then there’s a couple of buses which go over to Sydney Rd. There’s the 503 or 510. I took the 510 because it goes to the Northern end of Brunwick (well, Coburg actually), so I could then make my back down towards town.

Brunswick/Coburg The 510 bus goes along Moreland Rd, I got off at the intersection with Sydney Rd. There’s a Vinnies a few blocks north, you can walk up, but also on Sydney Rd it’s easy to get the 19 tram which is very frequent. There’s a tram stop right outside the Vinnies, then you can just head south and get off when you see the Salvos a few streets south of Moreland. Then back on the tram for about 3 or 4 stops and your at the Brunswick Savers. Also there’s the Don Bosco op shop a few doors down as well. From there you can get on the 19 back to town, or also there’s the train line which runs parallel to Sydney Rd (Jewel Station is a couple of streets south of Savers).