ICONIC and varied homewares and bric-a-brac retailer, Red Ramia Trading in Myrtleford, will host its second annual Japanese textile fair, with the opening weekend scheduled for October 4, 5 and 6.

For the whole month of October, anything relating to textiles and fabrics will be on sale.

"This is our second annual Japanese textile event," business owner, Red Ramia said.

"Our inaugural textile fair was in October last year and everyone who came then enjoyed it and suggested it be an annual event.

"I go to Japan once or twice a year and travel all over the country to order stock.

"For this event, I bought fabrics by the metre, as well as collections of kimonos and obis (Japanese cummerbunds), dresses and crockery.

"We are also featuring a selection of formal dresses from a designer wedding centre in Japan.

"There are all varieties and styles available: wedding and party dresses, with some in children's sizes.

"There are still shipments of fabrics coming in for this event, but we do have some that we plan to display in stock, ready to go for our opening weekend."

Red Ramia Trading is a family-owned business - Mr Ramia operates the store with his wife, son and two daughters.

"My kids will go to Japan in the future to learn the trade," he said.

"In December, my daughters Minette and Amanda are going on their first trip to Japan to order items for the store.

"My son Regan will go with me next year.

"We source our wares from Morocco, China, India and Japan and we get containers from all of those countries.

"Cafe Fez is also a part of our business and over the textile weekend we will be selling sushi and dumplings to mark the occasion."

The warehouse is built like a bazaar and also supplies a wide assortment of other wares to decorate the home: from garden ornaments, dioramas, crockery sets, dinner ware, cushions, shoes and clothing, tapestries, carpets, footstools, ornamental decorations the size of a car, room dividers and screens to cookware, jewelry, bric-a-brac and decorative fans, banners and parasols.

The list goes on!

Red Ramia Trading is open every day from 8:30am to 4pm at 145 Great Alpine Road, Myrtleford.