Wednesday, April 30, 2008


New, a pop-up book (shop)

Story from The Age.

BOOKSHOP owner Andrew Ball was struck by figures that showed only 18% of Australians would ever venture into a shop such as his, so he devised a way to take such shops to the remaining 82%.

The prototype of his idea sits in front of the Federation Square staircase that links the square’s open space to Flinders Street. Like a market stall it unfolds in the morning and refolds at night.
In the meantime, office workers taking their lunch can pick up a copy of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood while a commuter on their way to catch a train home might be tempted to delve into a Jane Austin or Anthony Trollope classic between the city and Frankston.
Melbourne’s first portable bookshop has been licensed to self-confessed classics fanatic Ross Matthews and Ball hopes once the project is refined, it will go further — a series of mobile bookshops taken to fairs, markets and even country towns too small to support a bookshop in their own right.
"The city used to have a lot of bookshops, but rising rents have forced them out. Also there are a lot of people out there who would like to run a bookshop but are put off by the upfront costs, which can start at $100,000," Ball says.

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