Another long-established bookstore in in the northern Sydney suburbs is marking a major change: sadly Lindfield Bookshop & Children's Bookshop is closing on August 24 after 46 years in business, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Scott Whitmont, who has owned the store for 20 years and earlier was manager and partner for five years with previous owner Max Oliver, told the paper: "I've done this for 25 years and they wanted me to commit to a long-term lease. I am passionate about what I do, but I'm 59 years old at the end of the year and I don't want to be stressing about the business. We people in books know, more than anyone else, there is always a new page to turn." He said he hopes to find a job in publishing.
He added: "Better for us to shut the doors, proud of the service we provided the community over four decades and under my stewardship for two decades, and move onto a next chapter than to face an uncertain future at a time of life when one is thinking of slowing down, not working harder, in a changing market."
In a Facebook post, he wrote to customers: "It is time to commit to a new shop lease with a rent level that would be difficult to maintain. We are fully aware how disappointing this news will be to our countless loyal customers, librarians, authors and publisher/distributor friends who have supported us for many years but I have concluded that after a quarter of a century in the business, it is time for me to begin a new chapter in my life.
"Karen, Ian, Angus, Margie, Ruth and Duncan join me in sincerely thanking you for your patronage and friendship over the years and we will miss our regular (in many cases weekly and in some cases even daily) interactions with you, sharing our stories and our favourite book recommendations."
Whitmont was long involved in bookselling organizations and is a former president of the New South Wales group of the Australian Booksellers Association.