Reflections On a Year in Bookselling

Happiness. That’s what books smell like.

I’ve spent the best part of the last decade running a small software company my husband and I created back in 2012. It’s been a global adventure, taught me a lot of sound business principles and taken me all over the world. I think you know where this story is going! Software is an exciting business. But books are physically real. You can hold books in your hands. They smell good.

We’d talked about opening our own bookshop — in that dreamy way you do — as we’d travelled through the US and Europe, discovering all sorts of wonderful independent stores reflecting their owner’s unique style and quirks. And during the first lockdown of 2020, on a walk around the leafy lanes of our pretty town, we decided to make a Blackwell bookshop happen. We opened Mrs Blackwell’s Village Bookshop in December 2020.

In a little store like ours, on the Main Street of Greytown, we’re never going to have the biggest range, the cheapest bargains or a full selection of the latest bestsellers. People looking for those things know where to find them. Mrs Blackwell’s Village Bookshop is a place to discover books you may not even know exist in an environment that displays the books as precious objects, which of course they are! 

Our books and unique stationery selection, and our style of presenting them, represent what I love and what I believe many of our customers love too. I’ve added little elements that matter to us, like a real fireplace for the winter, a personal music playlist, flowers combined with the smell of new book happiness and the scent of fresh baking on the days we get our Bookies (Adam describes them as a source of ‘reading energy’) delivered by our friend Kate from The Bicycle Kitchen. 

The bookshop turned 1 year old on December 12th and I sat down to reflect on all we've managed to achieve in these first 12 months. So let’s look at year 1 of Mrs Blackwell’s by the numbers:

Awards and accolades

While these are far from the most exciting things about running a bookshop they are certainly the most high profile and have helped people from all around New Zealand find our little shop that they might have otherwise passed on by.

In May, we won A national award for our promotion of the Ockham NZ Book Awards Nonfiction Category, and in July we celebrated a local Greytown award for the best Midwinter Christmas window display.

We made two appearances on national news media. Most recently Seven Sharp covered the Blackwell Puzzle Wars, and when our doors were still quite freshly opened, One News featured us in a story about the resurgence of bookstores in New Zealand.

Best sellers

Our top 10 best selling books included 6 New Zealand made titles and to my slight dismay... 2.5 children's books!

• Kuwi & Friends Maori Picture Dictionary by Kat Quin

• Field Guide to New Zealand Native Trees by John Dawson and Rob Lucas

• Beautiful World Where Are You? by Sally Rooney

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

• Short Walks of the North Island by Peter Janssen

• Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi

• The Boy, the Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

• This Pakeha Life. An Unsettled Memoir by Alison Jones

• Aue by Becky Manawatu

• The Dinosaur Atlas by Lonely Planet

Rather more satisfyingly, our number one selling item by volume was our Mrs Blackwell's Reading Log and our most popular puzzle was this Lego Minifigures punisher.

We sold 697 wood pencils and 390 bookies. And we estimate that we ate an additional 100 bookies ourselves!

Causes for celebration

We gave away 99 Books for NZ Bookshop Day — two lucky winners each won their age in books.

Mr Matthews and Mrs Gee became Greytown's favourite Superior Book Clerks and left me wondering how on earth I managed without them!

We funded 176 native trees through Trees That Count.

We found our own special ways of celebrating Star Wars Day and Mother's Day, and we even hosted te reo lessons.

That's what they said…

But by far the most exciting part of a year in bookselling has been all the excitement and kind words from our visitors and loyal customers. 

Here are just a few snippets of my favourite customer quotes:

"When I visited a couple of months ago, it was like stepping into my own imagination.  Back into my music and literature self, both areas of study before I became 'sensible' and progressed a policy career!  I instantly felt inspired and yet at home - feelings I think all the best bookstores should incite."

"Mr's Blackwell's is probably the most beautiful and cozy little bookshop I have ever entered. The shop is immaculate, the range is well thought out, the layout is superb, the books are decently priced, and last but not least, the owner is a humble and friendly host. I was genuinely sad to leave. I would give 6 stars if I could."

Put on your best Fred Dagg voice for this one from a visitor from Hamilton:

"Pretty good for a bookshop in the middle of nowhere." 

Thank you everyone who visited us in this first year.

As Auckland reopens after four months of lockdown we're looking forward to welcoming a lot of people to Greytown for the summer as well as catching up with all our local and loyal customers who have a little bit more time to browse the shelves on their summer holidays. 

Here’s to our first year — and many more to come!