Dymocks Collins Place to close

4 March 2014 Books+Publishing

Dymocks Collins Place in Melbourne’s CBD will close on 7 March after almost 20 years of trading.

The store, which is located near the larger Dymocks store at 234 Collins Street, first opened in May 1994 and has been owned by Kay Fraser for the past five years. Fraser told Books+Publishing that ‘high rent’ made it untenable to keep the store open, adding that the store’s sales failed to recover after workers from two big office towers in the Collins Place complex were relocated to a new building on the other side of the city 18 months ago. ‘A third of our sales went with them,’ said Fraser. ‘The rent kept increasing and the landlord kept saying things would pick up, but they didn’t.’

The store was originally due to close at the end of March, but the closing date was brought forward after a stronger-than-anticipated response to the clearance sale, which has been running since January.

The store employed four full-time staff, including Fraser, and three casual staff. Several employees have found replacement jobs at other bookstores. Fraser said loyal customers have visited the store to say goodbye or ‘to bring farewell cake’.

Category: Local news