Second-hand bookshops double bound in Ferry Rd
Second-hand bookstores are like buses. You wait years for one, and then two come along at once.
A pair of second-hand bookstores have opened next door to each other in Christchurch in a bid to transform Ferry Rd into a ‘‘book destination’’.
At first sight it may appear like a sitcom about two rival booksellers, but the owners of Steadfast Books and Book Barn decided opening next door to each other would help bring in more customers.
Steadfast Books owner Heath Ling said Christchurch needed more second-hand bookstores after losing many in the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes. ‘‘We are working hard to put this little corner of Ferry Rd on the map as a book destination,’’ he said.
‘‘Christchurch really needs more quality second-hand book stores.’’
Ling had long wanted to open a bookstore and eventually found an empty shop on Ferry Rd.
The neighbouring shop was also empty, so he asked his friend Paul Edwards, who runs the Chertsey Book Barn south of Rakaia, if he wanted to open next door.
‘‘The opportunity was there. He thought it would be a good mix. We are trying to complement each other and not compete.’’
Edwards said the two bookstores were a bigger draw together.
‘‘We thought that two book shops next to each other was a double reason to come,’’ he said.
‘‘Our customers can be his customers.’’
Edwards has run the eccentric Book Barn in Chertsey for eight years. The barn, on the Canterbury Plains, is full of thousands of books and has become a popular tourist stop on the road south.
It was born when Edwards saw people dumping old books and thought there must be a better way.
‘‘I thought it was a waste to dump them.
‘‘I sell them at a reasonable price so people can afford them and they don’t end up at the dump.’’
The Book Barn in Christchurch has about 20,000 books in stock and focuses on cheap prices.
He said Christchurch lost about 10 second-hand bookstores in the earthquakes.