The surprise resurgence of Australia's independent bookstores
Podcast episode
About the episode
The team at Readings in Melbourne, an independently owned bookstore chain that earned the Australian Book Retailer of the Year award in 2021, has faced several dark moments together.
One was the arrival of Amazon in Australia in 2017. Another was the pandemic disruption. One of the most challenging, says managing director Joe Rubbo, was the announcement in 2003 that American corporate bookstore chain Borders was setting up shop across the road from the flagship Readings store in Carlton.
“We survived, and in fact we thrived,” Rubbo says. “It showed us the importance of community and how much we meant to them. The community took it quite personally and saw it as an affront to them.”
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INTHEBLACK Out Loud is presented by CPA Australia.
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