Leica Store & Gallery Melbourne

The Verdict

It’s official: Melbourne’s the second Australian home of the legendary Leica brand. And it’s three times bigger than Sydney’s location. (Not that we measured or anything.)

The store is located on the first floor of St. Collins’ Lane and it is sleek. Designed with plenty of space for roaming, lounging, and ogling the perfectly placed and shimmering Leica models, Melbourne’s Leica location is a surefire contender for best looking camera store we’ve ever been in. 

Leica’s also partnered with Melbourne’s Niccolo coffee to serve up some inspiring brews that you can sip while you leaf through their photography book library and lounge on their lounge room sofas. (Verdict on the sofas: ridiculously comfortable.)

They even have a back-lit wall that can display converts into a fully functional photo studio, complete with makeup room at the back of the store.

Make no mistake though, Leica’s Melbourne flagship is not just here to have you window shopping for cameras and sipping on local coffee—it’s also the 20th worldwide location to house a Leica Gallery, a space designed to house by Leica photographers. The first exhibition in the Melbourne Leica Gallery displays never-before-seen work by legendary Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden. (It is also the first time any of Gilden’s work has been displayed in Australia.)

There are a lot of firsts for Leica as they slowly expand their brand in the Australian market. And one of those firsts Melbournites will be able to experience at the new Melbourne store are the company’s often-sold-out Leica Akademie classes—designed and run by photographers, for photographers.

Image credit: Annika Kafcaloudis