Greytown’s shops make it a wonderful spot for a gentle day of shopping. We boast more than 60 independent shops, cafes and restaurants on our lovely, wide Main Street brimming with preserved Victorian architecture.

The Esterbrook Pen Company was founded in the U.S.A in 1858 and became, at one point, one of the largest pen manufacturers in the world. Their pens were used by presidents from Lincoln to Kennedy. And legends including Donald Duck and Snoopy were created with Esterbrook pens.

Is it better to take notes by hand or with a digital tool? Is there a clear benefit one way or the other? I’ve been wondering about this too, and here’s what I discovered.

Reading isn’t exactly the sort of activity that requires a lot of accessories. A book (naturally) and a good place to sit and you’re well set. But for serious readers (and those who might be looking for a gift for a reader) there are a few specialised tools out there that can make your reading more luxurious, efficient, and effective.

When it comes to games, there’s nothing quite so ubiquitous nor so versatile as a deck of playing cards. Depending on how you count, there are thousands of different games that can be played with a standard deck.

Mrs Blackwell asks our South Wairarapa Mayoral and Greytown Ward Councillor candidates to share some insight into their reading habits.

Is there any scientific evidence backing up my feeling that reading can improve your life, and even your health? It seems that reading to improve intelligence and empathy is well established, so I looked into the benefits for some other, less obvious areas of our lives. Here’s what I found:

Perhaps because we opened during the pandemic, when puzzles were seeing a resurgence in popularity, jigsaw puzzles have consistently been some of our bestsellers since Mrs Blackwells began. Historians say we are in the third historic “puzzle craze,” but where did it all begin?

You probably already know that an orange Penguin cover indicates general fiction, green for crime fiction, cerise for travel and adventure, dark blue for biographies, yellow for miscellaneous, and red for drama. But what led to this uniquely simple cover design?

A Journal based-edition of Mrs Blackwell’s quarterly-ish update from the bookshop. This month we find out what’s happening in Greytown over winter, a musing from Mrs Blackwell about reporters notebooks and one from Mr Blackwell about why Kiwi blokes should pick up more books.

On June 11th Featherston Booktown will host an event marking 100 years since the publication of ‘Ulysses’, James Joyce’s widely banned novel. Censored in England and the United States, as well as here at home. Napier based Customs officer Henry Foster protesting its sale, and even went as far as saying the book was “written by a mental defective.”

Globally, women are more likely to be avid readers, more likely to read daily, and more likely to have read more books in the past year than men — despite the fact that women are more likely to be illiterate than men. But why are men less likely to be readers?

Recently, we received our first delivery of Blackwing’s new Reporters Notebooks, and as I was testing them out I started thinking about them as a physical tool. What a pop-culture icon they are. Why I have the instinct to put on a fedora and furiously scribble some findings in pencil. I realised, I had some questions.

A Journal based-edition of Mrs Blackwell’s monthly email update for readers. This month we find out what’s happening at the bookshop in Greytown, a very special event coming up in South Wairarapa, and there’s a couple of musings from Mrs Blackwell herself about letter writing and erasers.

For many, the beauty of a pencil is the ability to erase one’s marks — so a pencil without an eraser is a bit like a day without sunshine; gets the job done but it’s so much less pleasurable. In today’s entry we take a closer look at the eraser - the humble invention at the thinker’s side as they polish their ideas in graphite.

Letters are special because they require effort. If the idea of sending more notes and letters appeals, but you aren’t sure where or how to start, Mrs Blackwell has curated a few suggestions.

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

While we're known best these days for our shopping and dining locations, Greytown still has a lot of public green space that can be enjoyed for no cost at all. And, conveniently, there are public benches and seats available all over, beckoning a weary traveler or passerby to pause a moment and enjoy the view.

From the air we breathe to the water we drink and the wood we use, trees are essential to our survival. Trees have been good to us, so we’re happy to return the favour! Here’s the how and why we support local charity Trees That Count.

An instagram follower recently asked for our thoughts on the best way to display books at home. In this entry Mrs Blackwell shares her ideas.