Booktopia named Australia’s Favourite Bookshop

Online bookseller Booktopia has been named Australia’s Favourite Bookshop in a national competition administered by the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) in the lead-up to National Bookshop Day.

Booktopia CEO Tony Nash told Books+Publishing that he has ‘great pride in winning the Australia’s Favourite Bookshop award, especially because the judges were the book-buying public and not an industry panel’.

‘We have won many business awards from BRW and Telstra and other top-twenty online retail awards but we’ve never won an award for being a part of the book industry,’ said Nash.

Nash said Booktopia was the ‘local bookstore’ for many book buyers who no longer have a bookstore close to them. The company also supports a number of book-industry initiatives, and in the past year has sent $250,000 worth of books to Australian literacy programs, and sponsored the Australian Romance Readers Conference, the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival and the Australian Book Industry Awards.

‘Book buyers on social media complained about Booktopia winning the award, but authors and publishers came to our defence. Booktopia is not a bricks-and-mortar store, but it is a store of the 21st century,’ said Nash.

The winners of the competition, which attracted more than 20,000 votes for over 400 bookshops, were announced on National Bookshop Day by ambassador William McInnes.

The full list of winners is:

Australia’s Favourite Bookshop

Booktopia

Australia’s Favourite Specialist Bookshop

The Bookshop Darlinghurst, Sydney

Australia’s Favourite Regional Bookshop

The Dust Jacket, Inverell, NSW

ACT’s Favourite Bookshop

Paperchain Bookshop, Manuka

New South Wales’ Favourite Bookshop

Books Kinokuniya, Sydney

Northern Territory’s Favourite Bookshop

The Bookshop Darwin

Queensland’s Favourite Bookshop

Avid Reader, Brisbane

South Australia’s Favourite Bookshop

Dymocks Adelaide

Tasmania’s Favourite Bookshop

Fullers Bookshop, Hobart

Victoria’s Favourite Bookshop

Robinsons Bookshop, Frankston

Western Australia’s Favourite Bookshop

Beaufort Street Books, Mount Lawley.

‘Anyone who received a vote should be very proud,’ ABA marketing manager Steve Jones said in a statement. ‘The whole process was incredibly exciting. Large numbers of votes were rolling in for regional bookshops and specialist bookshops—which really proves that bookshops not only nurture their community but are also loved in return.’

Tags: abaaustraliasfavouritebookshopnationalbookshopday

Category: Local news