The country’s largest Australian-owned and operated book retailer, QBD Books has opened a new store in Taylors Lakes in north-west Melbourne.
Located in the Watergardens Shopping Centre, the 87th store in the QBD network, held its grand opening celebrations on Saturday 4 May with discounts, in-store appearances and exclusive book signings.
Expanding the Victorian network of QBD stores, the new Watergardens location coincides with the official launch of QBD’s new Local Author Spotlight program. The program provides a platform for showcasing and celebrating home-grown authors, supporting the Australian book publishing industry. Each quarter, QBD will select local authors across specific regions nationwide, spanning the fiction, non-fiction, and kids genres.
The Watergardens store opening marks the first of these author collaborations with QBD, which will see the store make available for purchase books from Victoria Devine with She’s On The Money and Amanda Hampson with The Cryptic Clue. The authors will also be promoted through in-store and centre signage, social media, and newsletter marketing.
“We wanted a reason to not only celebrate but increase visibility around the work of local authors, and the Local Author Spotlight program is the perfect way to do this,” QBD Books CEO, Nicholas Croydon said.
“We’ve been strongly supported in this initiative by publishers, who like us, are committed to helping Australian authors shine. Apart from raising the profile of local authors and allowing them to develop relationships with their local booksellers and booklovers, we hope this program also goes a long way in fostering community spirit, as people come out in support of their local authors.”
Commenting on the expansion of the QBD network in Victoria with the opening of the Watergardens store, Croydon said: “The Watergardens Shopping Centre store is an exciting location for us as the only book store in the centre, at a time when the tactile experience of reading a book is continuing to regain popularity. The new store once again allows us to bring our national love for books into a suburban area, and we look forward to further growing the reach of our stores nationwide.”