Fiona Sweetman – Tour Guide
Melbourne has more layers than a wedding cake and more treasures than a pirate's chest. While it is widely renowned as a shopping capital, many of its most exquisite retail outlets are never found by visitors.
Unless, that is, they meet Fiona Sweetman. When it comes to the less obvious aspects of Melbourne shopping, Fiona is on a mission to make the unknown known. Her Hidden Secrets Tours reveal reclusive retailers.
A typical tour involves six to eight participants with whom 50 shops are identified and discussed, and about a dozen visited. 'The tours exist in Melbourne because they can't exist anywhere else,' Fiona says. 'Where else can you see 50 extraordinary but little-known shops in a two kilometre walk? As long as you're inspired at the end of my tour, that's what I'm really excited about.
'Fashion can be absolutely anything in this city. The diversity is remarkable. I have a passion for design and the underdog. I've travelled a lot, and the best experiences I had were walking around cities with no idea where I was and suddenly stumbling across something fantastic. That's the excitement that I try to capture on the tours.'
Shopping secrets
In 2004, Fiona met Michelle Matthews, the writer and creator of Shopping Secrets Melbourne. Michelle was seeking a person with the right attributes to lead small walking tours in the city centre, where non-mainstream fashion outlets would be revealed. She asked Fiona to be that guide. In 2005 Hidden Secrets Tours and Shopping Secrets P/L won the Lord Mayor's Innovation award. In 2006 Fiona became owner of Hidden Secrets Tours. 'My tour gives people as much information as they can digest in a limited timeframe. There is not enough time to do any impulse buying of an expensive sort. Instead, the tour provides the tools to make good decisions about where to spend your money. Melbourne is a fashion icon. My research shows that we have more small boutiques here than other cities of the same size. I try to give people stories that act as 'tags' so they can remember individual shops.'
Made in Melbourne
'I didn't want to waste my experience in the fashion industry and I am passionate about design, but people say they love that I present the tour as a lay person. Within about 20 minutes of a tour starting I can work out whether the group will enjoy more high-end shops, more quirky vintage stuff, shops that are not just fashion. I only talk about shops that do things which are energetic, often innovative, locally-based. We don't earn any money from any shop we talk about or go to.'
A city of precincts
About two-thirds of tour participants are from places other than Melbourne. About 10 per cent of participants are men. There are different types and lengths of tours, all of which take place in the city centre. In mid-2006 a tour of the boutiques, galleries and quirky shops in Gertrude and Brunswick Streets, Fitzroy, was added to the repertoire. 'In Melbourne, you can be anything and everything. People come here from all over the world and mix in. It is a city of precincts and unique enclaves, each with its own attraction and allure. It is an easy city to find something new to do every day, and without great expense as well.'
