Time Out Bookstore – a ‘one off’ model of a retail bookseller

Time Out began 23 years ago in Auckland’s Mount Eden shopping strip with a conscious attempt to be different. One of the first boutique bookstores, it also sold music and kept daringly late hours. And the best thing is, little has changed!

IMAGE: Mt Eden Market Day earlier this year - Louisa is Red Riding Hood and Taylor is Pippi Longstocking!

More crammed than a Dr Who Tardis with stock of amazing variety, Time Out opens seven days a week from 9 am to 9 pm, almost unheard of for a suburban book retailer.

Owner of nine years, former science teacher Wendy Tighe-Umbers, reckons being open so late is a plus for the bookshop, surrounded as it is by restaurants and cafes. Even between eight and nine on a wet and windy Sunday night in winter? “Yes,” says Wendy firmly, “A lot of people come out for a coffee and dessert if not a full meal and it is worth being open the hours we do.”

The proof - if any is needed: Wendy has tripled turnover in her time as owner. Time Out received a Thorpe Bowker Independent Bookshop Award in 2004 and was a runner up last year.

While shop space is for the slim-hipped and those who relish the huge choice in a small area, above the store is an airy brick walled space used for book launches and promotions. Tonight’s event is for Fantastica, Peter Simpson’s book on artist Leo Bensemann. Peter Simpson will talk about researching the book and give an insight into Bensemann, a contemporary of Rita Angus.

Next Thursday on July 7, food writer and Masterchef judge Ray McVinnie will discuss his latest cookbook, Everyday Sunday, a collection of recipes from his popular Sunday magazine column.

Though upstairs is only small office and sizable event space, it may pay to ask if you can visit. Time Out book buyer Nevena Nikolic says that Wendy has been buying a lot of New Zealand art recently and it’s been hung there.

IMAGE: Wendy Tighe-Umbers and Sarah Webster.

The secret to the bookstore’s success is no secret, because Wendy tells everyone that the store is the way it is because of her loyal and devoted staff, who she treats like family.

Wendy’s also proud of her store’s ‘graduates’ who have gone on to major roles in publishing, Jane Arthur at Gecko, Anna Hodge at AUP and others who have left to continue studying like previous manager Sarah Webster doing Honours Psychology at Victoria, and Jonny Gabriel in teacher training.

Long time staff member Harriet Hodge (pictured above) – yes, she’s Anna’s sister - has now assumed the role of manager, and the store ticks over with five full timers and seven part timers. Nevena Nikolic is one of the latter, doing three days a week in her buying role. Whenever possible, buying is usually done by a team of two, with Wendy joining Nevena.

A lot of care is taken with buying, and that’s probably another key to the store’s success.

As Wendy and Nevena outlined in a presentation which they called the Art and Business of Bookselling they did for Continuing Education Writer’s Week students:

• We use instinct, personal knowledge, an iPad (to review past sales history), and other research when making buying decisions – we don’t always get it right but it’s a great feeling when we do
• We handpick titles we think will sell and our customers would like – maybe 10 percent of what is actually shown, and
• The titles we believe in, we will buy upfront in larger quantities and then re-order quickly as they sell.

The range they offer is wide, covering popular science, new fiction, classic fiction, history and arts; children have their own area in a room that opens off the shop floor.

Time Out is part of the Leading Edge group. They use Circle software for the computer system, and log all titles as soon as they are ordered, so staff have access to information to tell customers what is coming up.

Time Out is noted for its wonderfully visual scenes created in window displays like the one below.

Fine arts graduate and part timer Jenna Todd is the current window dressing supremo, but everyone contributes ideas and support. Time Out won a massive prize from Penguin for their window which won a Puffin books display competition: their promotional order was supplied free!

It doesn’t hurt Time Out that Mount Eden is a prestige suburb and a lot of artists, university staff and professionals live in the area, so the effects of recession on sales figures have been minor. The open til 9 pm suits well – even retiring Governor General Anand Satyanand has been known to stroll round from his residence in the early evening.

But there are plenty of other ways Time Out Bookstore is special.

How many bookstores have their own cat? Lucinda, the latest in line, is no stray but a pedigree Tonkinese named after a Peter Carey novel.

Their quarterly newsletter is a good production, with staff reviews, not just publisher blurbs repeated.

They have a loyalty card, use social media, support community activities, do green deliveries on a bike at Christmas, and are about to get their own branded Time Out delivery van.

But two points Wendy and Nevena made in their presentation are probably the best summary of Time Out’s difference:

• Amazingly smart, happy staff that love to read and talk about books, and
• A store with personality and a unique vibe which no online or chain retailer can recreate.

Story written by Jillian Ewart, writer for The Read