New bookshop Fat Cat Books opens in Melbourne

8 October 2013 Books+Publishing

A new bookshop called Fat Cat Books has opened in Dandenong Plaza in Melbourne.

Fat Cat Books, which is located near the previous site of the Dandenong AllBooks4Less store, is owned and operated by Steph Teh with her business partner Nannicha Warapaakkarapt. The pair previously worked as operators across six Melbourne AllBooks4Less stores in Dandenong, Chadstone, Harbourtown, Spencer Street, Brunswick and Prahran.

Teh told Books+Publishing that she started the business ‘straight after’ AllBooks4Less and its parent company, books wholesaler and remainders dealer TB Clarke, went into liquidation in August. In addition to the permanent Dandenong store, Teh and Warapaakkarapt have operated three Fat Cat Books pop-up shops at Waverley Gardens in Mulgrave since August. ‘We will be doing more pop-ups at Waverley Gardens coming up to Christmas and will be looking for other pop-up opportunities as they arise,’ said Teh. ‘We would love to open another permanent store, but are waiting on the right shop and location to come up,’ she added.

Teh said that Fat Cat Books’ stock has been purchased from Melbourne wholesalers and publishers, with ‘about 50% remaindered stock and 50% new stock’. ‘We love digging into the remainder pallets, but also like to offer new books to our customers,’ said Teh.

According to Teh, the stock and equipment from the Dandenong AllBooks4Less store was sold to ‘another ex-AllBooks operator who now owns and runs a chain of stores called Books and Gifts Station’ in Chadstone and other sites around Melbourne. ‘When AllBooks went into liquidation, all the Victorian operators were offered the opportunity to make bids on the leftover stock and equipment at each store,’ said Teh.

To find out more about Fat Cat Books, visit its Facebook page here.

Category: Local news