I love new things, so two new and exciting additions to Wellington’s retail and café industries have me pretty amped.

First up is The Service Depot, a new clothing store brought to you by the folks behind Artikel. I must admit, I’ve been struggling to remember its name (The Shipping Container? The Storage Cupboard?), and it was a little hard to find at first, but now I’ve got it down-pat.

The Service Depot is hidden on Lombard Street, behind the Manners Mall Post Office, in an industrial-looking space. It’s conveniently close to Lido, where I brunch once (if not twice) a weekend, so it’s perfectly located for a post-nom shopping expedition.

The store stocks Deadly Ponies (they have an enormous range of bags) along with Deborah Sweeney, Stolen Girlfriends Club, Lela Jacobs and, my favourite, Lonely Hearts. There is an incredible light blue Lonely Hearts dress with the greatest gold zipper I’ve ever seen.

The staff are also really friendly and knowledgeable, and a guy who works there is a total babe. Go admire him, the dress and the other pretty things.

Then, on Dixon Street where Quick-E Mart used to be (below Club K) is newly-opened café Memphis Belle, which shares its name with a 1990 film starring The Phantom, a WWII aeroplane, and a restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee.

The café only opened about a week ago, but already has Wellington talking. They certainly make a mean long black. They told me about their beans, but I can’t remember how the conversation went. But with my super sleuth skills and Google, I figured out that they’re using Flight Coffee from Napier – “only the best 100% Fairtrade certified organic green coffee beans”. Turns out Memphis Belle is even a type of Flight coffee. Whoa-whoah.

One dude wrote on their Facebook page: “Had a mean ciabatta roasted vege wholegrain mustard avo egg huge sandy today at M -Bella, twas awesome. Only $5 too. Crazy”. WHAT A DEAL.

Another fella tweeted: “Initial impressions favourable, not least because they’re playing the Clash”.

The café is also home to Nick Clark, who came second in the regional finals of the NZ Barista Champs! He and co-worker Bink Bowler are mega friendly (even letting me pay on my second visit coz their EFTPOS wasn’t sorted yet. Wo.)

If you tied these two destinations into one adventure, your day would be all sorts of awesome.

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Laura McQuillan is a Wellington journalist and blogger , with an opinion on everything from fashion to politics. Her one true love is shoes.