Melbourne and the Global Bookshop Crawl

The Global Book Crawl is a worldwide celebration of independent bookshops and those who love them. Readers, writers, and booksellers join forces for one week to create a tapestry of neighbourhood strolls and unforgettable encounters. The heart of the Global Book Crawl is the joy of discovery: wandering through bookstores, getting lost in conversations, and finding titles you didn’t know you needed. Visit two bookshops or twenty, you’re part of something bigger. Here is the list of countries and places participating. 

Australia

• Blue Mountains
• Hobart
• Melbourne
• Mornington Peninsula
• Newcastle
• North East Victoria
• Sydney

I was in Melbourne this week and so unable to do the Sydney bookshop crawl - instead I visited some of the shops on the Melbourne list plus other Melbourne bookshops that didn't feature in this promotion. My extra shops were - three Book Grocer stores (Northcote, Melbourne City, and Melbourne Southern Cross station), The Sun Bookshop in Yarraville and Readings St Kilda.  I was very surprised that The Little Bookroom did not participate. I also ran out of time to visit Readings Kids which is a shop I do enjoy browsing and shopping in. And last time I was in Melbourne I discovered North Melbourne Books - I will go back there on my next trip. 

Participating shops Melbourne (see links here).

• Readings Carlton | Readings Kids | Readings Emporium | Readings State Library
• Amplify Bookstore
• Books for Cooks
• Dymocks Melbourne
• Hill of Content
• Kay Craddock Antiquarian Booksellers
• Mary Martin Southgate | Mary Martin Queen Victoria Market
• Paperback Bookshop

Image from Facebook

I visited ten bookshops (four from the crawl) and purchased four books! 

I spent a long time in Hill of Content. They have a good children's selection. I was able to read a few picture books but they were too heavy for my luggage. I didn't spy any middle grade titles that I wanted to buy - they had many that I had already read. 

I visited their Emporium store - it is beautifully set out. I did get a stamp there but I didn't purchase any books. They had a terrific selection of picture books.

I visited the Melbourne city Dymocks store twice. It surprised me that they were included on the Global Bookshop Crawl as they are a chain store and interestingly the Sydney store was not part of the crawl. The Melbourne store has a huge children's section which is well set out. I find the new layout in Sydney very unappealing. In Melbourne I bought this book:

Why did I select this? It's fairly new (2024); I read some very positive reviews; and the setting is a coal mine and I used to teach in a NSW town based around coal mining.

The Paperback Bookshop is a tiny store which is perfect for book lovers because they hold tons of back stock. Their children's section is very very small because that is not their main focus but I was able to find a book there - an old Australian classic in a new edition with a charming cover:

Here is the Sydney bookshop crawl page with stamps. 

Image source Facebook

If I had been able to take part in Sydney, I would most certainly have visited The Constant Reader; Three Sparrows; Gleebooks; and possibly Abbeys and Kinokuniya even though I go to these last two nearly every week. Sometime over the next month or so I plan to visit a couple of the bookshop crawl stores with a book friend - Gertrude and Alice and the bookshop in Potts Point. 

In an era dominated by algorithms and next-day delivery, the value of independent stores goes far beyond their shelves. “What most local bookshops provide that the digital world [can’t] is curation of the experience. We have incredible knowledge about local and international things. We can help people find the book they’re looking for or recommend things. There’s an incredible wealth of knowledge in the staff, so it’s just a much better experience.”  Anna Low, owner of Potts Point Bookshop