Epping ABC Temporarily Moves to Minchinbury

On 21 January 2022, the Adventist Book Centre (ABC) building at 4 Cambridge Street in Epping was sold to property developers that intend to demolish the existing building and replace it with a new office and residential tower. That meant the current ABC needed to relocate until the building project has been completed.

“In anticipation of the relocation, we conducted a market survey with the purpose of reviewing our existing customers’ demographics, shopping preference for books and vegetarian food, distribution of church members across Sydney, and transport profiles,” says Colin Raymond, Chief Financial Officer at Greater Sydney Conference (GSC). “The research findings and recommendations has led us to relocate to the West-Northwest corridor of Sydney.”

The new ABC has found a temporary home at 1A/1 Colyton Road, Minchinbury, NSW, until the new Greater Sydney Conference Office is completed at the Cambridge Street building, slated for completion by 2025. At that time, the ABC will relocate back to new, bespoke premises at that address.

The move began on 9th June, and the ABC reopened at the new location on 14th June.

“As you can imagine, moving a bookshop is a large, complicated, and expensive exercise,” says Michael Pupovac, ABC Supervisor for the GSC. “Fortunately, we had help.” He explains that after tradespeople fit out the temporary premises to the ABC’s requirements, removalists transferred the thousands of books, bookshelves, refrigerators, freezers, and office equipment to the new location.

The staff acknowledges that the move will impact customers. “Some will be sorry to see us leave Epping but for others the move to Minchinbury will mean less travel time to visit the ABC,” says Mr. Pupovac. “Many customers live in the Blacktown-to-Penrith corridor, and we will be closer to

a significant portion of our customer base. For them, it will be nice to have an Adventist Book Centre a little closer to home.”

Mr. Pupovac expects the new location to have more befits than drawbacks. “The biggest upside to this temporary relocation is that the Adventist Book Centre will have a presence in Western Sydney—a part of the city that we’ve not been in before,” he says. “Having stores in different parts of the city means that an Adventist Book Centre will be accessible to more potential customers than ever before.”

There’s also expectation that the new location will serve as a witness to the community. “Being located on the corner of a busy highway, the new store will have more exposure than our current location and will hopefully entice locals to come and check us out,” Mr. Pupovac says.

For customers who prefer the Epping location, the store at Sydney Adventist Hospital in Wahroonga, just north of Epping, will provide a closer option until the ABC relocates back to the original site once redevelopment is complete.

“I’m excited about the move for two reasons,” shares Mr. Pupovac. “Firstly, the new store is larger and will enable us to expand the range of food and drink, something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Secondly, moving the Epping store to Minchinbury enables us to have a presence in a whole new region of our city. I’m very eager to see how the new location will be received by our customers.”