Post Office

Good friends Alison Stokes and Barbara Davies were ‘semi retired’ when they discovered Terrace End Books and Toys in Palmerston North was for sale. Formerly a Paper Power store, run by Ron and Penny Barnes for 37 years, the store was due to close when the women seized the opportunity.

During New Zealand Book Month (1-31 March 2011) four million $5 book vouchers were distributed nationwide as part of the Books Change Lives campaign.

Because of the Christchurch earthquake of 22 Feburary 2011, not all Christchurch residents had the opportunity to use their voucher. Therefore, in Christchurch Book Month will extend until the end of May. Read the full story.

Find a participating bookshop

Independent Piccadilly Bookshop Christchurch and franchised Take Note Rangiora: An odd couple in Canterbury.

Neville Templeton owns two bookshops in the Christchurch area, but they are an unlikely combination. One, Piccadilly Bookshop, is an independent in the suburban city area at Avonhead Mall, the other is the franchised Take Note Rangiora 30kms north of Christchurch.

Piccadilly came first in 1993; Templeton was looking for business opportunities after a corporate career with Mobil and then service station ownership. “A venture into manufacturing ended disastrously, so I looked for opportunities back in retail.”

At the time on this Thursday afternoon, July 29, when the send button is pressed to dispatch The Read, National Poetry Day will be being celebrated in Taupo with coffee, cake and a poetry reading by Chris Price – at Price’s Bookshop.

It is an initiative by Price’s Bookshop’s owners of two years, Tracey Lidington and Anthony Byett. As Taupo’s proudly independent book store, they like to take on events that link them to the community. Their first Poetry Day event was an evening with Apirana Taylor in 2009, such a success that a follow on event this year was a must. While ‘Chris Price at Price’s Bookshop’ has a ring to it, as far as Lidington knows, the poet is no relation to the store’s name-giving owners.

Ask Sheena Wager to describe her Post Office Bookstore and she is wonderfully candid. “Close your eyes and visualiSe an Old English Sweet Shoppe… then mix that with Arkwright’s in Open All Hours.”

On the surface, it seems quite unlikely that Don Hollander should be running a second hand bookstore, Book Haven, in Wellington.


For a start it was wife Julie Eberly who saw the 'For Sale' sign on the premises five years ago, negotiated the purchase and e-mailed Don, returning from Tokelau to Samoa at the time, with the news.

Karen and Steve Pettigrew have owned Take Note Tawa for 18 years and three name changes; initially it was Local Value, then Books & More and from 2006, Take Note.

When the Pettigrew’s bought the store, it had a good range of books and that is something they have kept up over time.

Getting a New Zealand Post franchise in 1994 has helped grow the business, as has the subsequent addition of Kiwibank to their services.

Booksellers NZ is pleased to offer the use of our board room to members at no cost for trade-related use.

The board room seats 12, and is located at our new office in central Wellington, on Level 3, Huddart Parker Building, 1 Post Office Square, Wellington City. Coffee, tea, milk and sugar can be provided for a small fee.

Please contact Cherie Arnott to make a booking.