Twenty years ago, there were well over 15 bookshops in Melbourne’s CBD. They included iconic names such as The Technical Bookshop, McGill’s, Angus and Robertson, Collins, Reader’s Feast and The Little Bookroom. Of those bookshops only a few remain, such as The Paperback, Dymocks Melbourne and The Hill of Content. The ones that disappeared were likely victims to a combination of rising rents and falling sales, as online shopping began to erode their business.

Despite this, I’d always thought that Melbourne warranted another bookshop in the CBD, especially after receiving its UNESCO City of Literature status in 2008. Over the years I’d looked at potential sites. We even got close with one at Federation Square. Usually, it was the wrong location or, more frequently, unaffordable. We did open a shop in the wonderful State Library but that mainly services visitors to the library. Early this year we started looking around again; the impact of the pandemic was an additional impetus. Melbourne’s extended lockdown drove home to me the importance of bricks-and-mortar bookshops in providing new books much-needed exposure; during the lockdowns, many of these books saw sales languish. Books by established authors fared relatively well, but others suffered terribly. It seems obvious to me that our authors and publishers need more bookshops to give those releases the opportunity to be discovered. How many times have you stepped into a bookshop intent on buying a particular title, and come out with another couple that leapt into your hands? Online shopping doesn’t give that same sense of discovery.

Another reason is that there were quite a few people in our team for whom bookselling had become their chosen career. They are people with amazing skills and passion for this job, and I wanted to give them a bigger canvas to work with, and to give others new opportunities. Lastly, before the pandemic, our sales had started to flatten and even decline. To be able to do all the things that we do – our Readings Prizes, our wonderful monthly magazine, our charitable work and support of local authors and publishers – we needed to grow our sales and our profits.

The pandemic has gutted central business districts around the world, as workers shifted away from their offices and into their homes, and many retailers sadly closed their doors for good. That left a vacuum to be filled by businesses who are betting on the CBD returning to some of its former vibrancy. When Andrew Stevens from Emporium Melbourne approached us earlier this year it was the right time for us and the right time for him. He had a lovely 300sqm space overlooking Little Bourke Street that was begging to be transformed into a wonderful bookshop. When my colleagues and I visited, we all fell in love with the place, and decided that we could create something special. We approached Kerstin Thompson Architects to see if they would be interested in working on the project and to our delight, they were excited too. So, hopefully before Christmas Readings Emporium will open its doors. Please come and visit.

Mark Rubbo is the managing director of Readings.