Bernie Wanden, owner of Paper Plus Levin

9:59 AM, 17 January 2024

It was a big move out of Wellington nearly 40 years ago when my wife Sharon and our 6 week old daughter left the big smoke of Wellington and joined my in-laws in the family bookshop in Levin. They were looking to retire as you did in those days when you got to 60.

A bookstore has been on the site since 1929 and has been owned by only 3 families – my in-laws arrived from Christchurch in 1965, so the store has been in the same family for 58 years. When they arrived they didn’t change the previous owners name so it is still known by many locals as McLeod’s.

A couple of years later we joined what is now known as the Paper Plus Group and we have been lucky enough to have survived many challenges over those years principally because of our ability to have that buying power and support that we have had from belonging to a franchise. Being a book and stationery store in provincial NZ is never easy and we probably would not have survived if we were not part of the franchise.

The store has gone through a number of refits and changes over the years, including knocking out the wall and taking over the store next door which doubled our size in 1995.

It has been an interesting time to say the least, but one that has been thoroughly enjoyable, although some of the economic and technology challenges we have faced over those years have certainly caused their fair amount of stress.

As a bookstore we have always tried to be a reasonably good stock holding store which can be very hard at times – there is a fine line between having not enough stock and having too much especially in the environment we are operating in today.

I have always believed that if I expect my community to support their local bookshop then we need to support them so being part of the community is a big deal for us and we have supported many local projects, schools and other organisations over the years.

Being behind the counter has also given me a good perspective of what is happening in the town so I have been involved in many community organisations over the years. With all the talk about an Expressway around Levin I finally stood for Council in 2016 and 3 years later decided to stand for the mayoralty in Horowhenua – I am now in my second term as Mayor and am extremely grateful and fortunate that the bookstore has given me a profile that no amount of billboards or advertising can buy, plus some great staff that keep the place humming.

As you can imagine I get little time for leisure reading but always try to fit it in when I can. I enjoy many authors but generally it is crime/thriller/saga authors like Ken Follett, Peter James, Stuart MacBride, David Baldacci and John Grisham.

My favourite non-fiction book is Boys in the Boat and has been my go to book for years for those males who don’t read much. This is an inspiring sports and history story set around the depression years and the 1936 Olympics – the film directed by George Clooney is due for release early in the New Year and will be a must see I am sure.

—Bernie Wanden, owner of Paper Plus Levin