The humble beginnings of Costume Wonderland
Costume Wonderland was founded in Brighton Beach Melbourne in the ’70’s.
“Brighton Beach Fancy Dress” as it was known then was a tiny 1 room fancy dress costume hire shop, with only a hand full of costumes. It then moved to a bigger premises at Bay St Brighton, with a slight name change. The “Beach” was dropped.
In 1987, a quirky young lady named Joy bought the business and has been running it ever since with her family.
Joy’s vision was to change the stigma attached to fancy dress shops, being small, cluttered and musty. The vision was to create an open, enjoyable and some might say memorable shopping experience continues today.
The business was built up so much, she needed a larger premises again. The old post office on South Rd, Moorabbin was to be the new home. For the next 13 years we were known as “Bayside Fancy Dress”.
Eventually, a face lift was needed and re-branding to cement our position online, and in the old Yellow Pages so Costume Bazaar was to be the new name.
Again, Costume Bazaar outgrew it’s premises and relocated to a much bigger, better place just around the corner on Nepean Hwy.
Second generation moving Costume Wonderland into the future
Now, as Costume Wonderland and keeping it in the family, Joy’s daughter now runs it, with the same staff, who have always been there.
They are proud to offer their customers almost 40 years experience in the fancy dress and costume hire industry. They are one of Australia’s largest and seasoned dress up shops with friendly, quirky, fun loving and experienced staff members, all of whom love helping customers on a daily basis. (Check out their Google reviews!) They are ready for a dress up party!
Come and visit us in our wonderland of costumes, our costume world emporium, to look and try on all our pop culture and creative costumes, masquerade costumes and accessories, before you buy or hire.
We’re located at 911 Nepean Hwy, Bentleigh Vic, next to Hungry Jacks. There’s plenty of parking.
Areas We Service
Costume Wonderland service areas all over Melbourne. The Bayside areas are Mornington, Mt.Eliza, Frankston, Seaford, Carrum, Patterson Lakes, Chelsea, Edithvale, Aspendale, Mordialloc, Parkdale, Cheltenham, Highett, and of course Moorabbin, Brighton, Elwood and St.Kilda. Also stretching as far as Dandenong and Berwick, which is only 25-35 minutes away.
We are just a short distance from Glenhuntly, Oakleigh, Clayton, Murrumbeena, Ormond, Elsternwick. Prahran, South Yarra, Richmond and Melbourne CDB, ranging from a 5-25 minute drive.