Willows & Wine
Amy Poonian spent two decades in hospitality and the arts before opening this wine bar and secondhand bookshop inside a heritage shopfront on Victoria Street, all dark timber and worn tile beneath hanging woven lamps. The books for sale, and the ones in the lending library for members, are chosen deliberately: First Nations, Black, queer and disabled writers sit alongside well-thumbed classics, with wine, cheeseboards and cocktails to go with the reading. It has become a fixture of the North and West Melbourne strip on a stretch better known for warehouses than wine bars, recently backed by a City of Melbourne small business grant to help it grow. Board games and non-alcoholic options are on hand for those not drinking, and the room doubles as a venue for book clubs and author events through the week. Open Tuesday to Friday from 2pm, weekends from midday, closed Mondays, a place to arrive without a plan and leave with both a glass emptied and a book chosen.