Life after REDgroup in Australia — Crikey maps the bookshop closures

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 - by Bookseller+Publisher's Eloise Keating and Matthia Dempsey

The Australian bookselling industry is a substantially different place as a result of the collapse of REDgroup Retail. As the administration process of what was once the country’s largest bookselling network draws to a close (we are still waiting on a second meeting of REDgroup’s creditors to find out how the funds will be distributed), we are beginning to get a glimpse of what life after Angus & Robertson (A&R) and Borders will be like. When the board of REDgroup called in administrators Ferrier Hodgson on February 17 this year, the group, which also owned the Whitcoulls bookshop chain in New Zealand and still owns the Supanews newsagency chain, had close to 190 bookshops in Australia. There were 26 Borders shops across the country, 116 A&R company-owned shops and 47 A&R franchise shops. The first shop closures were announced within a week of the group entering administration. 37 A&R company-owned shops, and one Borders shop, were the first casualties. This was followed by another 12 A&R company shops in April, 16 Borders shops, also in April, six A&R company shops in May, nine Borders shops in June, and 42 A&R company shops in June. In July, a final announcement was made: the administrators had sold three A&R company shops (one to Dymocks), and the remaining 16 A&R company shops would close, and the sale of three A&R company shops (one to Dymocks). To the surprise of many outside the industry, this final announcement also included the closure of the much-loved Reader’s Feast bookshop in Melbourne’s CBD. According to reports from the Weekly Book Newsletter, 139 bookshops in Australia have been lost because of the administration of REDgroup. Including over 200 redundancies at REDgroup headquarters and distribution centres in Melbourne, close to 2100 bookselling jobs no longer exist. But it is not just about the quantity of bookshops that have been lost; it’s also about where these shops were located. While the Borders shops were generally located in large shopping centres or precincts, Angus & Robertson shops were often the only general bookshops located in suburban or regional areas. Some of these suburbs and towns are now without a dedicated bookshop. Rest of story.