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Books have the power to open our minds, to take us on the wildest journey of discovery or allow our imagination to run free! Ingrid Nelson chats with owner of the oldest second hand bookstore in Maleny to unearth some of the magic they hold.
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s soon as you step inside Maleny Bookshop, you can feel the history and knowledge that lies within the 14,000-odd books lining the shelves that are starting to strain under their weight.
The smell of the paper, the feel of the pages inside the classics, the character and charm of the old store, there is a real sense of nostalgia and comfort in this beautiful book store that has been part of Maleny’s history for more than 30 years. It’s exactly what owners Ian and Harper Bailey had envisaged when they bought the store earlier this year. However, it was quite a serendipitous chain of events that brought them to the Sunshine Coast. “It was always my wife’s dream to own a book store, particularly in Maleny,” Ian said. “We were living in the Lockyer Valley and she had been camping with a friend in Maleny and fell in love with it. “We were just about to move into the Hello Sunshine Magazine
Sky Tower in Brisbane when I saw a newspaper ad about a book shop for sale in Maleny, and I knew I had to buy it.”
Unfortunately, their plans were put on hold due to Covid, but the adventurous couple were determined to follow their dreams, no matter what. “Covid put the brakes on our plans for a while, but I had committed to buying the business. Even though we could have pulled out and some people told us we shouldn’t buy a business during a pandemic, we knew it was the right decision,” says Ian.
book, it could be anywhere. It took a couple of months just to get the hardware and software working and then five weeks working 14 hours a day to get it done,” says Ian. “It was such a satisfying feeling getting to the end and then I realised I still had 3,000 more books at home to do,” laughs Ian. But the hard work has certainly paid off, with Ian now able to find a book within seconds of a customer enquiry, saving both he and the customer hours of searching for a title.
Although Ian loved the history of the bookstore and has kept the layout and décor much the same as the previous owners, he knew he needed to bring the business into the modern age by cataloguing all of the books, which has transformed the way they operate.
“Before, I would take their name and number, wait until we closed and then spend hours looking for books that might have been sold during the day,” says Ian.
“The store hadn’t been catalogued in 20-odd years, so if someone wanted a
Passionate about giving back to the community, Ian also offers a 10 per cent
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“Now, people can jump online and buy it, click and collect or call the store and I can find it in seconds.”
PHOTOS: BLISS PHOTOGRAPHY
THE MAGIC OF
