Whitcoulls Palmerston North: refreshed store in renewed Plaza

In September last year, Whitcoulls The Plaza, Palmerston North was re fitted as a new generation Whitcoulls store. At the time The Plaza shopping centre, sited on city landmark the Square, was itself in the final stages of a major two year renovation completed with a flourish and a celebration in March 2010.

Whitcoulls Plaza manager, William Brunn, is particularly proud of the wide frontage to the store, which can comfortably accommodate three of the new-style nesting tables. They are a great focus to display product right on to the mall to attract customers, Brunn says.

With their mutual high-style looks, The Plaza and Whitcoulls currently have great foot traffic and attract family shoppers. The challenge for Brunn and his team in the current trading conditions is converting the passing traffic and browsers into buyers. Winter can be a challenging season for book and leisure retail, and with in current recession pressures added in, the ‘browsers into buyers’ conversion is harder than it has been over recent years. Price is an all-important factor currently.

But Brunn and assistant manager Karen Johnson are both Whitcoulls veterans with 23 years for Brunn and 17 for Johnson. In fact, William Brunn has been with Whitcoulls all his working life, starting at Lambton Quay in Wellington, then Christchurch followed by Lower Hutt and now Palmerston North. One of his career highlights was managing Wellington Airport store when that was upgraded.

So with the experience over years of the ups and downs of business, the team at the Plaza’s approach is not to wring hands, but to just work harder and smarter to keep the store’s profile high and maximise opportunities. “Customers still see books as a quality gift, and will happily pay for the right title,” says Brunn.

The other members of Whitcoulls Plaza full time team of Ann Thomson, Carolyn Bocock, Tracy Cowan and Val James have also been with the store for long periods, no one less than four years! Carolyn Bocock has a passion for paranormal romance – which sells really well at the Plaza – so she can recommend other titles to Stephenie Meyer, LJ Smith and Richelle Mead fans.

[The Whitcoulls Plaza team: (left to right) Tracy Cowan, Val James, William Brunn, Carolyn Bocock and Ann Thomson.]

Four part timers are part of the staff mix, with more at Christmas. Brunn considers himself lucky because he can usually find holidaying uni students who have been working part time for Whitcoulls chain while studying in other cities to fill those gaps.

Trade is not all gloom, despite the times. The Kobo e-book reader has been really big business for the store. With its young family clientele, the major product areas are DVDs and books, primarily fiction. The Passage is doing well, Lee Child’s 61 Hours was a major bestseller for the store, and, quips Brunn “Slow is going really fast!”

REDgroup companion store Bennetts on nearby Broadway is a complement to the Plaza store’s business, rather than competition says Brunn. “They have a different customer base, mostly older and trade from libraries and schools.”

So far the two recently opened mid city Paper Plus and Marbecks stores have not significantly impacted on the Plaza’s trade.

Coming up, Whitcoulls Plaza has Fathers Day to look forward to with a good mix of titles with dad-appeal on the market. Brunn is looking forward to selling good fiction and new titles Don’t Blink from James Patterson and Conn Iggulden’s Empire of Silver. The usual sports books requirements will be filled by Marc Ellis’s Good Fullas: A Guide to Kiwi Blokes and Dan Carter: A Tribute to the All Blacks’ Perfect 10 by John Matheson.

William Brunn shares every booksellers passion for new releases. “I wouldn’t be able to jump out of bed if I didn’t enjoy each day. You come into the store and look for the boxes that have arrived with new stock. Opening boxes and discovering great new titles you can’t wait to put out to show your customers is a pleasure that never fades.”