Book Haven ‘a nice gig’ says owner

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.

Julie’s interest would not be unexpected – she loves books and has degrees in English from Mount Holyoke and Victoria University.
She had even commenced a PhD in children’s literature at Victoria some years ago before ill health intervened.


Don’s background is quite different, with a long career in the IT industry including positions at INL, Transpower, Computerland, and involvement in the spread of internet use to the Pacific. He’s also chaired various IT related organizations, including TUANZ and the 2020 Communications Trust.

Don was born in New York, Julie in Nigeria and the two Americans met in Washington after Don had completed degrees at UCLA and Georgia Tech. Between them they have lived in Panama, Peru, Nigeria, Turkey, Samoa and both coasts of the United States before choosing to end up in Wellington.

Julie is now more or less retired from the bookshop – although she still does the buying when people bring their books into the store. However, the larger than life Don fills the other gaps, with help from occasional assistant, potter Sam Duckor-Jones.

pictured left: Riddiford St, Newtown, Wellington



“It’s a nice gig,” says Don. “But make a living from it? It is a nice retirement project, but if you need to make money, this is the wrong business.”
Book Haven is “the size of a garage” says Sam. But a further 25,000 books are in storage nearby.

Naturally, there is a well maintained Book Haven website with detailed stock categories and titles available. Half the sales come from in store shopping and the other half from internet buyers all over the world. One feature is that on line shoppers are promised same-day dispatch where possible – easy because the local Post Office is next door.

Don is also the hunter-gatherer for new stock – how else would they accumulate so much stock in storage and shop in only five years? He’s into garage sales, book fairs, auctions and has been known to buy a box offering of books at auction even if he only wants one title from the box! And people are forever bringing books into the shop, particularly just before paydays or at the end of varsity terms.

Don says the titles that are hot in the general world of books are the same things used book buyers are after. Stieg Larsson titles are in demand currently. There’s also a market for classics. He likes it when a gaggle of students come in and grab classics then encourage their friends to pick up other books they’ve loved.

Don doesn’t stock romance, though Book Haven is big in chick lit. Nor do they buy magazines, but will keep some, like National Geographic and Readers Digest, if they are offered them: these are then given to relatives to take to patients at nearby Wellington Hospital.

Book Haven also has plans to expand, with Don currently considering buying an existing second hand book business or acquiring premises elsewhere in the city to start a further business. “I’ve given no thought to an exit strategy,” he jokes. “Buying a second hand business is different from new bookshops – new book retailers have got major money involved!”

In fact, Book Haven does stock some new titles that fit their business – for example, the Popular Penguins range with its lower price point. And on their website they also offer new books from some publishers they’ve built up affiliations with – Exisle, Craig Potton, Ngaio Press, Steele Roberts – and buy on an order to order basis. This is an area Don would like to expand.

Booksellers New Zealand believes Book Haven is their only second hand book store member, and Don Hollander is a keen participant in industry affairs. He’s complimentary of Booksellers’ major award promotions – in Don-speak “they are doing a bloody good job.”

However he is critical in other areas and believes the association should be acting on areas such as arriving at a consistent format for data files. He would like to see more grit in conference sessions, covering subjects like loss prevention, how small outlets can easily engage with publishers, accounting and inventory systems and benchmarking areas. “What sort of sales per square metre of floor space should a business be doing?

Ah, the business brain still works. Nevertheless, Don Hollander says there is one big plus in bookselling: “The people you deal with are just lovely.”

www.bookhaven.co.nz