Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Bumper sales for book shops
KATHERINE NEWTON - The Dominion Post Tuesday, 23 December 2008

READING BETWEEN THE LINES: John McIntyre, (pic left), owner of The Children's Bookshop in Kilbirnie, says his biggest day of sales in 16 years was due to people taking greater care with how they were spending money.
Forget video games, parents are opting for old-fashioned picture books as one Wellington store turns a new page in bumper Christmas sales.
The Children's Bookshop in Kilbirnie had a record day of sales on Saturday. "It was the biggest day in 16 years of business," said owner John McIntyre.
"Saturday was bigger than any Harry Potter [launch] day."
He credited the upturn to people taking greater care with how they were spending money.
"A lot of them are saying that they are much more cautious about what they're buying. People are not buying 'stuff' this year. I think people are looking at value gifts."
Mr McIntyre would not divulge Saturday's actual take, but said sales were up by at least 10 per cent on the weekend before Christmas last year.
The Children's Bookshop was not the only bookshop experiencing increased sales.
Unity Books assistant manager Marion Castree said the shop had overflowed with customers at the weekend. "We're still going strong today," she said.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good on you John, and good on you Bookman for carrying John's good news story. Down with the doomsayers, up with the booksellers!