Store profile: Bungalow Trading Co
Anna Chisholm’s childhood dream of owning a shoe shop is not so far from reality when her job as a footwear merchandiser segued into opening a flourishing retail haven for fashion and home.
Words: Pip Miller / Photography: Annette O’Brien / Styling: Anna Chisholm
As one of Melbourne’s homewares meccas, Bungalow Trading Co (named after Anna’s renovated Californian bungalow) opened in May 2013. It was during her years at home raising two young sons that Anna discovered her passion was not just for shoes, but interiors as well, with hours spent ‘fluffing’ and styling her own nest.
“I frequented many of the small, unique and well curated homewares businesses around Melbourne – shops like Hut 13, Turner & Lane, Fenton & Fenton and Crate Expectations. There was nothing like these shops in my local area so I saw an opportunity and made my shop-owning dreams a reality – opening up next to a new, busy café.”
Bungalow was embraced by the community from the start and the business flourished and has evolved most recently with a fresh new look thanks to the help of Industria X furniture.
According to Anna, Bungalow’s core business is homewares (art, soft furnishings, decorative pieces, lighting) and a lovingly curated range of fashion, jewellery and accessories for women with some décor and toys for children.
With regards to Bungalow and its retail philosophy, Anna says that this is very much built on her desire to support local artists and designers and a commitment to stock as much locally made and designed product as possible.
“I am also passionate about the people I meet in this industry. I have the utmost gratitude for my regular customers – many who have supported the shop since we opened. Many are now friends and some are staff!”
Though not a huge fan of religiously following trends, Anna says she is awake to noticing what is new on the market and says that she is particularly partial to a resurgence of ceramics and textural layering with linen – especially the variety of luxe bed linen on the market. “I like to pick and choose from key trends and let them merge with favourite pieces and evergreen ranges. More often than not, trends emerge in either colour, texture or form.”
Anna does admit to a soft spot for styling with colour and at the moment is into mixing pastel pinks and peaches with forest green, orange with lilac, burgundy and pink, and mustard with soft blue. “Pink is a recurring favourite. I love pink.”
Bungalow Trading Co is just one of the many stores that stock Adore Home Magazine. Visit their store at 187 Booran Rd, Caulfield South, Melbourne.