Being fifty-something, I can get a bit cranky (at times).

Like when I had a good old whinge in this blogpost about the current state of bricks and mortar retail. As I hinted, I was looking in all the wrong places.

Yesterday I had reason to look in the right place … and my faith was restored.

I visited The Flower Dispensary to collect a beautiful Edenborough Evans necklace I’d won in a social media competition. (Thank you!)

As is my wont (as a mostly window shopper), I had been lurking afterhours admiring the window displays at The Flower Dispensary for quite some time. When I stepped inside, I found the beauty was not skin deep. This fabulously styled retail space abounds in awesome – elegant wares, fun stuff, quirky items, fragrant smellies, shiny jewellery, paper-y paperie … oh, and flowers. The flowers!

Owner Lyndal Gubbins has invested her heart and her soul in gathering this collection. Her love of vintage (she’ll tell you it’s a family failing!) is reflected in the shop fittings and the styling – it all blends so well, it’s hard to decipher where the vintage ends and the contemporary begins. And why would you want to?

Truly, I think I could live in this shop.

With her team Michelle and Alice (who take turns on the 3am flower market gig), Lyndal offers a friendly, warm retail environment where you’re welcome to touch and smell and hold … things aren’t bound up in layers of plastic here; they’re real and genuine, like the people behind the jump.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story (mostly … I’ve been experimenting with adding text over images, so stick with me here while I figure out this newest digital frontier).

How’s this for a counter of goodies:

I’ve been searching high and low for one of these stamp sets in lower case (if anyone can track one down for me, Lyndal can):

Nestle up to this nook of nice things:

Brilliant (and great value) Erst Wilder brooches:

A wall of glass:

The latest window display:

Even a vintage typewriter for that genuine old typography on card messages (this photo by The Flower Dispensary):

Oh … and those flowers!

The Flower Dispensary is at 333 Pakington St, Newtown. If you’re in the Geelong region, call in and get yourself some REAL retail love. Yes, it’s alive and well. You just need to go looking for it.