By the time you read this Readings will be on the brink of having two new shops and a slightly changed Carlton one. I’ve just returned from the first few hours of our new shop at Westfield Doncaster; it was a mighty morning welcoming the people coming to look at the shop and to buy. We were thrilled and so were they – a feeling of mutual excitement! And lots of discussions about books, about ebooks, the future of the book and an overwhelming consensus that books and bookshops matter – music to an old booksellers’ ears but also an affirmation that bookshops, wherever they may be, have a role to play in the community.

Readings has always been fiercely independent and some people expressed surprise that we would open in a mall; it wasn’t something we sought and we were in fact approached by Westfield; they had had a Borders there and there was obviously an appetite for books and there were few bookshops between the inner suburbs and Eltham. It seemed like a perfect opportunity and an interesting one. We commissioned a local architectural firm, Nest, to come up with a design that would reflect the independence of Readings yet fit in a shopping centre. The decision to choose Nest was based on their portfolio, but was helped by the fact that the principal architect’s partner is a writer well known to us – ‘They should have strong empathy for our project,’ we thought. They came up with a motif of the pages of a book and their sensuous curves; it might sound a bit trite but it works really well in this medium-sized shop that holds enough stock to make it interesting and varied. I get the feeling that we’ll grow well into this space.

Our second shop is a dedicated children’s shop in Lygon Street. Children’s book sales are the success story of the publishing industry and those of you who know our Lygon Street shop would have seen how our children’s section has been bursting at the seams. The new shop is in a building that was originally designed by Melbourne architect Daryl Jackson for the clothing company Esprit; it’s a lovely, simple building with beautiful natural light. Once again, we briefed Nest Architects; we wanted something that is playful and practical. They came up with an idea of a park full of picnic tables, full of books – a few days out from opening, it’s looking rather exciting. In addition to the picnic theme, we’ve commissioned children’s book illustrator and author Marc Martin to do a huge mural against the high walls. It wasn’t the best time for Marc as Penguin Random House have just published his latest book, Lots, and I suspect that being perched high on scaffolding painting like Michelangelo within the Sistine Chapel wasn’t exactly how he’d thought of preparing for publication. So, for us, the bookshop is still alive and well and it’s thanks to you, dear readers, for your support; the new shops would not have been possible without it, so please, if you have a chance, we’d love you to visit some time soon.

Mark Rubbo