INTHEBLACK August 2024 - Flipbook - Page 25
F E AT U R E
Despite numerous
predictions of the sector’s
downfall, independent
bookstores are thriving.
Independent bookstores
have been recognised
as having a “halo effect”
on a shopping area.
Competing on service and knowledge
rather than location and price,
independent bookstores are a vital
part of publishing, particularly for
launching local authors.
A turn-up
for the books
Despite being regularly written off,
independent bookstores have
refused to follow a conventional
plot, instead proving their place
and purpose. What is their secret
to success and what lessons do
they hold for other retailers?
Photo by Carla Cervantes on Unsplash.
LISTEN
to this story
Words Chris Sheedy
Left: “Discarded
romance”, made by
artist Mike Stilkey, is a
famous three-storey
mural made of
discarded books
that is located at Fully
Booked on Bonifacio
High Street, Manila.
Fully Booked was
established in 2003 and
has since expanded to
more than 30 branches
across the Philippines.
The team at Readings in Melbourne,
an independently owned bookstore chain that
earned the Australian Book Retailer of the
Year award in 2021, has faced several dark
moments together. One was the arrival of
Amazon in Australia in 2017. Another was
the pandemic disruption.
One of the most challenging, says managing
director Joe Rubbo, was the announcement in
2003 that American corporate bookstore chain
Borders was setting up shop across the road
from the flagship Readings store in Carlton.
“We survived, and in fact we thrived,”
Rubbo says. “It showed us the importance
of community and how much we meant to
them. The community took it quite personally
and saw it as an affront to them.”
For Borders, the story had a less than
happy ending. In 2008, Borders stores in
Australia, New Zealand and Singapore
were sold to Pacific Equity Partners (PEP),
which also owned bookstore chain Angus
& Robertson. PEP sold the bookstore
businesses on to REDgroup Retail, which
went into voluntary administration in 2011.
In 2011, the Borders Group filed for
bankruptcy in the US.
With such carnage among the corporate
chains, there seemed little hope for independent
booksellers. As with all good stories, however,
there were plot twists still to come.
THE ADVERSARY
By the time Amazon created its Australian
website, Amazon.com.au, in late 2017, it had
long been selling books, ebooks and other
products into the Australian market through
its existing sales channels.
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