Mandy Myles, owner of Bookety Book Books

12:36 AM, 7 December 2023

Bookety Book Books is an online only independent bookstore, based down south in Wānaka. I came to bookselling somewhat naively from the fashion industry, launching BBB in August 2020 and we have now been running for more than 3 years! During this time, we have shifted locations three times (sigh), had a baby (who is now 2!), and grown our stock holdings 10 times over.

We are still a small venture stocking a curated range of diverse authors for like-minded readers. I run the business from my garage at home, and my wonderful Mum, Robyn, helps ship orders and to keep things tidy in the book room so I can focus on creating content for our social media, keeping up with the website, and every other hat you wear as a small business owner.

As we don’t hold street frontage, we view our Instagram profile as our store front and use this to engage with our followers. I love coming up with new content ideas, hosting book clubs online, designing new packaging or bookmarks, and am generally blown away by all the amazing customers I have met both online and in person, some of which are now dear friends.

I have just finished the new Britney Spears memoir, The Woman in Me, and feel beyond heartbroken and ashamed for the role society took in her treatment during her now infamous mental breakdown that led to her conservatorship. It is truly an unbelievable life, and my heart goes out to her, she deserved better.

The future for BBB? I am always working on new creative ideas, ways to improve the business, and grow our offering, all while sticking to the BBB brand, so follow along @booketybookbooks to see what comes next.

—Mandy Myles, owner of Bookety Book Books