Where in Australia can I find stock for my new bookshop?

I live in a regional mining town in Queensland Australia with a population of
90,000 and over the last few months a friend of mine have decided that we
are going to start researching our business idea.

We would like to open a bookstore cafe. From the bookstore perspective it
would have both a new and used section, at this stage not focusing on a
particular niche genre. The cafe will be connected to the bookstore and
ideally you would need to walk through the cafe to get to the books. It
would be a pre-prepared cafe, as in no hot food unless able to be toasted in
a sandwich press or heated in a microwave. That is sandwiches, paninis,
cakes, biscuits and such. And of course good coffee.

The cafe would also be set out so that there is an indoor lounging area.
Comfortable chairs and sofa and an outdoor garden area with outdoor tables
and chairs. The atmosphere we want to create is an environment where you can
peruse the bookshop holding you takeaway coffee and once your selection has
been made, sit down relax and spend time reading. The idea is to get them
into the store for the books and make them stay longer with the food and
coffee. We also want to organise weekly book clubs and “reading times” for
children while their mothers sit and chat over coffee and cake.

Read more

A Reader asks "Where do I find bulk books in the UK"?

Hi

I would first like to say thank you for an interesting and informative
site, with a good dash of humour. It’s one of the more interesting websites
I’ve found!

I’m interested in starting up my own second hand bookshop, preferably
selling sci-fi & fantasy (& all the surrounding genres). I have all kinds of
ideas and plans as to how to make it successful, as I think there is a
definate market for more secondhand sci-fi shops especially as (well over in
the UK anyway) the ‘geek’ concept is becoming more acceptible especially
with the popularity of Harry Potter and more recently the Twilight series.

Read more

When does bulk buying for your bookshop get out of hand?

The listing was for 2,000+ books and I won it for some ridiculously small amount, totally stunned at that as I kept on reducing my top price before I actually put in my bid. When I got there, with my nephew for muscle, there were more like 4,500 books. I know it’s not a lot compared to some other people’s buys but it was a lot for me at the time, bear in mind I was really only starting out and I used to buy a handful of books at a time at op shops and garage sales. I was floored and unable to deal with them for some time.