Beanheads Coffee Shoppe

Beanheads Coffee Shoppe pours inside Market 3196, the indoor bazaar on Wells Road at Chelsea Heights, and both the cafe and the market are officially pet friendly. That makes this a rare wet-weather dog outing in Melbourne's outer south-east: browse the stalls with your dog on lead, then settle at the cafe for a toastie while vinyl plays over the speakers.

The dog setup

Market 3196 welcomes dogs through its indoor stalls, which means Beanheads inherits an all-weather arrangement rather than a fair-weather footpath. Standard market etiquette applies: dogs stay securely on lead, stay calm around crowds, and do the browsing tour with you rather than roaming. The cafe is compact, so pick your moment; weekday mornings are the quiet window, while weekend afternoons bring the market foot traffic.

Worth knowing

The cafe trades Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm and Sundays from 10am to 3pm, closed Mondays. The menu is short and done well: toasties, sweet treats and consistently good coffee, with homemade scones as the midweek draw on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The vinyl is the character here; records spin on the house system, and the market hosts occasional record digs and in-store events, so a visit can double as a crate-digging run for collectors.

Getting there and parking

Market 3196 is at 279 Wells Road, Chelsea Heights, a short drive from Chelsea, Bonbeach and Carrum. There is parking on site, and the Wells Road frontage makes it an easy pull-in on the way to or from the beachside suburbs. It is a flat, easy venue for older dogs and prams alike.

Close by with the dogs

The Roy Dore Reserve fenced dog park at Carrum gives your dog an off-leash run before the market browse, and the Carrum dog beach covers the saltwater option. For a second stop, the Kevin Hayes dog park with coffee van at Mordialloc pairs the same way.

More options are on the Victoria dog friendly cafes guide and the Chelsea Heights destination page.

Max: toastie among the vinyl at Market 3196, then a run at Roy Dore Reserve.