NZ Herald

For booksellers and most retailers, the Rugby World Cup was the spark that did not ignite. Instead of ringing tills, foot traffic was down by half in Auckland’s Newmarket shopping area. In New Plymouth, Benny’s Books put up the bunting and stocked up on rugby titles – but nobody came despite three high profile matches in the city.

RWC tourists visited bookshops in Greymouth and Wanaka – to buy maps. Union, the big lead rugby book for the event, hasn’t even made it on to Nielsen BookScan’s top ten non-fiction list.

Chris and Warren Baskett have owned Books a Plenty in Tauranga’s central shopping area for eleven years, so they’ve learned to surf the peaks and troughs of trading over that time.

Rob Smith knows retail through and through – he worked for the Progressive supermarket chain for 22 years followed by eight as GM at Warehouse Stationery. Rob’s been with PaperPlus Group for five years and those times have been marked by outstanding progress.