Aussie Indie 'Re-Framing' Bookstore Model

From Shelf Awareness

Perimeter Books was launched last year in Melbourne, Australia, by Dan Rule and Justine Ellis, who feature a "personal selection of titles" in their inventory of "over 500 small press and independent titles from all over the world, across the subject areas of design, architecture, art and photography. Rule and Ellis are purveyors of unusual and beautiful books and their collection reflects this," SmartPlanet reported. "We offer a well-curated niche selection of things that have not been well represented or even represented at all in Australia," said Ellis, adding that in their curatorial approach, every title is accompanied by a blurb. "It's not just about books being slotted onto the shelves. We wanted to create a platform that was conducive to small press art books." Perimeter also serves as a gallery, online shop and will soon launch a collaborative publishing house, Perimeter Editions. The shop is operating on "a business model that has proven financially viable thus far. Rule says that Perimeter, like many others of its kind, is 're-framing' what it is to be a bookshop," SmartPlanet wrote. "You see that overseas where studio spaces bleed into retail," Rule observed. "In Melbourne, the Compound Interest is a classic example... pulling together small resources to make something a lot bigger. It's so removed from the traditional business model it's hardly a business at all. Not having expectations of making any money. It's part of a wider suite of thing that we do.... Every aspect of community feeds off each other, opening the store helps people make books, and people making books, helps us sell books."