New online bookshop specialises in sports books

3 December 2013 Books+Publishing

A new Australian online bookstore that specialises in sports books opened in November.

Parade Lap Books sells motorsport, cricket, football and horseracing titles. It is owned by a company called SRG Media, which also operates the OzRacingWrap motorsport website and podcast.

The store currently has 14 titles in stock, with owner Shaun Garrity telling Books+Publishing that he plans to expand the store’s inventory with more varied sports over time. ‘Like all new businesses, we now need some sales to back up the concept and initial stock investment before we order more,’ said Garrity.

Garrity said that Parade Lap Books will focus on ‘coffee table books that particularly benefit from the physical format for their photography’, as well as ‘hardcover traditional autobiographies’ of sporting personalities. He said he does not intend to sell ebooks.

Garrity previously sold a small range of motorsport books on Ebay under the OzRacingWrap name, which led him to open a larger store. ‘We felt there was a niche for coffee table-type sports books and given the ease and relative attractive cost structure of Squarespace.com and their ecommerce platform, a standalone site was worth the investment,’ said Garrity. ‘Given we wanted to expand away from motorsport, we decided a new name was needed whilst still reflecting the likely motorsport focus of the store.’

For more information about Parade Lap Books, visit the website here.

Category: Local news