Monday, Feb 19, 2024

In 2022, after the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant Melbourne lockdowns, our Collins Street lease was nearing its end and we had to think long and hard about our future as an open bookshop in the centre of Melbourne. We had occupied the semi-basement at 156 Collins Street for over thirty years and the thought of leaving such prominent and compatible premises was terrifying, but we were nervous about being able to sustain such a high-profile location post-pandemic. It was a time reminiscent of an earlier dilemma, in 1990, when we had to move from our splendid premises at Cavendish House, as recorded in Stuart Kells history of our business:

There was scarcely a potential retail space in the city at street level, or above or below, that we did not explore. We looked again at the suburbs. We contemplated giving up an open shop and running the business from home. All options were either unsuitable or unaffordable. We had not yet arrived at the conclusion that we should just give up. [Extract from Rare. A life among antiquarian books by Stuart Kells. Folio, Sydney, 2011]

In January 1990 the timely intervention of a friend led us to a very small shop at 40 Bourke Street, Melbourne. We were on the point of signing a lease when we received a telephone call from a prominent real estate agent, offering us the semi-basement of The Assembly Hall Building in Collins Street, recently vacated by the Presbyterian Book Room.  

In January 2023 we engaged the expertise of another stalwart of the real estate industry, John Dowling (who had been our real estate agent when we moved to first floor premises at 401 St. Kilda Road in the late1970s) to help us resolve our dilemma. John was now a customer of ours and a friend. His wise advocacy led to the eventual positive negotiation of a renewed lease with our existing landlord, Scots Church Properties Trust.

So, why the recent closure for renovations? Our carpet had been damaged during the renovation of The Assembly Hall Building some years earlier, with increasingly unsightly stains spoiling the look of our bookshop. As part of our lease renewal, the carpet has now been replaced and we have taken the opportunity to freshen up our surroundings. Several of our customers have expressed concern that we might change the ambience of our bookshop. We haven’t! There was a moment when I thought we should dispense with our round conversation couch, which we have had since the 1970s, as it does take up rather a lot of room. But when the time came to have it removed, memories of sitting on the couch with my mother, Muriel, came flooding back. It remains here for this next chapter in our story.