Thomastown Trash and Treasure Market

Thomastown Trash and Treasure Market has traded every Sunday for close to 60 years, but it didn't start out as a market at all. The site opened in 1964 as the Reservoir Village Drive-In cinema, and only pivoted to its current Trash & Treasure format in 1967, three years later.

From drive-in screen to Sunday market ground

That switch from cinema to market in the late 1960s has proven remarkably durable: the site, near the corner of Wood Street and Settlement Road in Thomastown, has stayed a Sunday fixture for Melbourne's north ever since, trading from 8am to 2.30pm and closing only for major holidays or genuinely bad weather. Stallholders can bring almost anything to sell except food or live animals, with stall space priced around $35 for a single spot or $70 for a double.

For longtime locals, the market's identity as a multicultural gathering point matters as much as the bargains on offer, having served as a low-cost trading spot for generation after generation of families in Melbourne's north.

Good to know before you go

Because the market depends on weather, it's worth checking ahead if conditions look rough before making the trip. Cash is the safest bet for stallholder purchases, and arriving closer to the 8am opening gives the best pick of secondhand goods before the crowds build through the morning.