By Anfernee Chansamooth
Kate Toon took a leap of faith on a failing bookstore, as screens dominate daily life and fewer Australians are making time to read.
Toon’s leap began with an urgent email from the previous owner. Umina Beach Book Nook faced closure unless a buyer stepped in. She couldn’t resist saving the shop from collapse, but only after getting the nod from her accountant first.
While Toon is an award-winning business mentor, digital marketing coach, and author, she had “no real retail experience and little understanding of the publishing industry and processes”.
She described her first year of running the store as a “massive learning curve”, admitting that there were times she thought it was beyond her.
The biggest challenges Toon faced included getting the shop out of a huge financial hole and rebuilding the store’s reputation among local community.
“Both were kind of in the bin,” she said.
With the help of a key staff member who stayed on after the sale, Kate got to work doing renovations, restocking, and building up faith in the community.
These changes have had a significant impact – the store saw an uplift in customers as well as 40 per cent more sales this year than in the previous year.
When asked about what she’s seen in relation to reports of a decline in readership for books in Australia and trends at her shop, Kate said: “We’ve had a massive increase in customers since we took the shop on. And it’s all demographics. It’s men, it’s women, it’s old, it’s young. There’s a huge upswell in younger readers reading romance, smut and fantasy.”
When asked what can be done to increase reading levels in Australia, Kate believes the key is to hook readers while they’re young and making reading a “magical experience” for readers of all ages.
Giving readers a lovely, warm feeling is precisely what Kate and her staff are doing in their shop. From the dozens of Google reviews online, and the increase in sales since she took over the shop, it’s working.
Featured image: Umina Beach Book Nook with owner Kate Toon. Picture: Kate Toon
