GST-free online purchases a growing concern for booksellers
Australian booksellers are among a growing number of Australian retailers who are calling on the federal government to reform the rules guiding the application of the GST to online purchases...
Easter Sunday public holiday in NSW receives mixed response
The announcement by the NSW Government this month that Easter Sunday will be a public holiday from 2011 has received a mixed response from booksellers and retailing groups. NSW Premier...
New owners sought for WA bookstore
The River Tales Bookshop in Margaret River, Western Australia is for sale. The owners of the independent bookstore, which is located on the Bussell Highway in the state's southwest wine...
Readings to launch bigger store at the State Library of Victoria
A new Readings bookstore will be launched at the State Library of Victoria (SLV) in Melbourne in November. The new store, which will be approximately 70sqm in size, will replace the...
Western Australian retailers suffering from Sunday trading rules
Retail stores in Western Australia are suffering from state regulations that only allow stores in special precincts to trade on Sundays. The West Australian reported last week that takings at...
Lagardere to sell books in re-developed Canberra airport
Lagardere will open a news and books store in Canberra airport next month. The store, under the Relay brand, will be located in the airport's new Southern Concourse Terminal. CEO...
Jones leaves Kinokuniya to found Novel Concept
Steve Jones has announced his resignation as general manager of Kinokuniya Bookstores of Australia to start his own marketing and business consulting business Novel Concepts. Jones' final day at Kinokuniya will 8 September...
Quote of the week
'As a bookseller I want to be able to provide my customers with the book they want in the format they want. We try to source books for our customers...
Borders relaunches Carlton store; revamps website
Borders relaunched its Carlton store in Melbourne last week, showcasing a newly designed interior layout. The Borders Carlton store features new children’s, stationery, travel, cooking and MBS sections designed as...
Gleebooks to open in Dulwich Hill
Independent bookseller Gleebooks will open a new store in Dulwich Hill, in the inner-west of Sydney. Located on Marrickville Road, the 160-square-metre store is scheduled to open in June. While...
Perth to introduce extended trading hours
The Western Australian government will allow more Perth retailers to extend their shopping hours from January next year. The extended hours will apply to large stores in a so-called ‘tourism...
Retail sales 7.9 per cent up on last year
Retail sales in Australia in June 2009 were 7.9% up on June 2008, said Inside Retailing, citing figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS showed that...
Retail sales up 0.3% in April
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported that retail sales rose 0.3% in April to $19.351 billion from $19.296 billion in March, seasonally adjusted. However the results for April...
Mountain Educational Books closing
After trading in the Heathmont Shopping Centre in Heathmont, Victoria, for over 40 years, Mountain Educational Books will be closing its doors at the end of April 2009. Owner/manager Peter...
Post-Christmas sales stronger than expected
Post-Christmas retail spending was stronger than expected, according to figures from the Australia Retailers Association (ARA) which indicate consumers spent $6.5 billion between Boxing Day and the end of January--$200...
Thorpe-Bowker strengthens BookNet relationship
Thorpe-Bowker will assume responsibility for all sales and marketing of UniLink's BookNet retail point-of-sale (POS) solution, along with customer relationship management and support, ‘in order to allow the retail software...
Little Bookroom sold to former employees
The Little Bookroom in Melbourne, Australia's oldest specialist children's bookshop, has a brand new pair of owners. Former employees Leesa and Lesley Lambert are now running the Little Bookroom, much to the...
HDS renames
HDS Retail Asia Pacific, which operates airport retail outlets including NewsLink, Relay and Watermark Books, has changed its name to Lagardère Services Asia Pacific. Lagardère Services Asia Pacific is part...
Foreign Language Bookshop turns 70
Teachers, librarians, publishers and policy-makers gathered at Melbourne's Foreign Language Bookshop last Friday to celebrate the International Year of Languages.The event also marked the Foreign Language Bookshop's seventieth birthday. The...
WBN post-Xmas survey
WBN published the results of its post-Christmas survey as a Special Bulletin last Friday, showing that over 90% of those surveyed had an ‘excellent' or ‘good' Christmas. For the full...