Anticipation and reward

Much anticipation here today waiting to hear the news from our colleague Lucy. No it wasn't a new book from a famous author, but a new arrival of the best kind. Welcome to the newest bookshop baby, Gabrielle! And congratulations to Lucy & family. 

Happy Birth Day!

Our very own glamour...

Forget New York, forget Paris, London, Berlin.... It's Nelson! Think Sartorialist, Humans of NY, Advanced Style.  We have our very own fashionistas visiting the bookshop every day. Today we thought Susan was striking in houndstooth!

It also is called a book....

Our Facebook page is a good way to keep up with our events, competitions and newsletters and to read interesting snippets of book news from around the world.

We like it when you 'like' us.

A bag of delicious cookbooks...

Jennifer has a bag full of cookbooks from our special selection of great cookbooks at reduced prices. Jennifer's books are destined to be gifts, although with such a tempting selection they might be difficult to give away.

Working Sundays

Peter has just worked his first Sunday (excluding Christmas Time) for about 8 years. They have changed somewhat in that time. There are definitely more serious book buyers taking advantage of  the leisurely pleasure of quietly browsing the bookshop on Sundays than there were 8 years ago. It was an enjoyable day for this new owner.

The best of our books

It was a week of announcements on the awards front. The Man  Booker Longlist was called out and our very own New Zealand Post Book Awards finalist lists announced.
So lucky us, we get to display all these wonderful contenders - a grand selection this year. (It will be hard to pick the winners in the Non-Fiction and Illustrated categories.)

A Ranger's Apprentice visits the bookshop

Dylan got our attention today with his wonderful costume (he made his cape from Mum's bridesmaid dress!) - we think it's excellent. Dylan hails from Lake Rotiti School where he and some of his school mates are very keen readers of the 'Ranger's Apprentice' series by John Flanagan.

Beaded wheels is a craft magazine, right? Wrong!

So, which of our booksellers lead a customer down to the craft  magazines when he came in to enquire whether we had the "Beaded Wheels" magazine?
Oops, Lynn now knows that this is a motoring magazine.  The customer thought it a hilarious mislead. ( Although I consider it a fairly logical error to have made... Lynn)

In the Waimea Room

The Random Roadshow (trapezes! high wires! death-defying reading! nibbles!) is over for another year* and Stella attempts to contain her excitement about the forthcoming books from Random House New Zealand.

*We forgot to photograph Nicola's and Rachel's riveting recommendation-juggling act, so you'll have to content yourself with this shot of a potted palm and the little wedge holding the tripod up in the Rutherford Big Top. We thronged the stalls along with our fellow booksellers and librarians from throughout the region.

A sister bookshop in Oxford

Thanks to Bernard for the lovely postcards from Blackwell's in Oxford, UK. 

A fine independent bookseller.

What did Peter do on day one of the Riggs' ownership?

We tracked him down by following the sounds of frustration - poor Peter had met his match with the pricing gun and had to resort to watching an online video of how to change its price tape roll.  Who else argues with and expresses frustration at these online tutorials?  To be fair, at one point the tutorial advised: "Now, take a deep breath"!

Q: How do booksellers celebrate winning the title "New Zealand Bookshop of the Year 2014"?

A: We do it very well indeed!
Here's a few photos from our fabulous evening out at Styx restaurant last night:

Tim, Ann and Marie

It was Lucy's last evening out with us, with  baby #2 now imminent.

Although she was a tad sad when Stella made her hand back her shop keys! We'll miss you Lucy!

Sarah, Susi and Peter

Stella and Thomas (who claims he IS smiling in the photo!)

Susi, Peter, Lynn and Lucy

We tried to catch Jan without a camera in hand

A happy match: Peter the bookseller poses with Bookbinders Brew (no, he'd not overindulged, it was just a happy evening).

Not one to be outdone,  Stella opted to pose with two (no, she'd not overindulged either, it was just a happy evening).

 

We ended the evening with a farewell presentation to our Tim and Susi..

 

Beautiful to look at and...

....even better to eat. Thanks Craig Potton Publishing for the delicious Chocolate Cake!

The places you don't see...

The back room sometimes has visitors, but the stairs to the upstairs office are a bit of mystery.
They keep our gym fees low (non-existent) and our knees supple.

Bon Voyage Susi

It's Susi's last day in the shop. We're sad to see her go, but happy that a new chapter begins for her. Best wishes Susi & Tim.

What are you wearing?

While Lucy was visiting the shop today she exclaimed " Marmite shoes!". She had spotted (and alerted us to) this classy pair...

...thanks Sean for being such a good sport and letting us photograph your marmite cycling shoes!

A "Yeehah!" magic moment.

Q:  How do you know when you have successfully united the right book and the right booklover?
A:  When you then hear a loud "Yeehah!" from the footpath outside and see the book being held aloft triumphantly!
A magic moment .... one of the many magic moments in a bookseller's day.

What did Peter and Susi see parading past the bookstore this morning?

We all enjoyed watching the celebrating convoy of German World Cup supporters who did a couple of laps of the CBD this morning:

Page 3 pin-up people.

Our retiring couple soon to be new owners,  Peter and Ann Rigg, featured as page 3 pin-ups in Saturday's Nelson Mail. As the accompanying article states, "Book-lovers can relax: New Zealand's best independent bookstore, Page & Blackmore Booksellers, is safe."

More of the same for bookstore

The art of illustration

 Donovan Bixley, award winning illustrator of numerous books including 'The Three Bears...sort of' gave a fantastic workshop to an audience of enthralled children and adults.

Donovan showed us how changes in expression can be created by subtly altering eyebrows and mouth.

A queue of eager attendees waiting for their books to be signed.

Changes afoot!

 

From the 21st July the new owners of Page and Blackmore will be Ann and Peter Rigg. They have decided they are not yet ready to retire and instead have purchased Susi and Tim Blackmore's share of the business. The team are all staying and looking forward to the future.

A booksellers bedroom...

This evening after reading a bedtime story ('The Dragon Keeper'). One of the girls wondered how many bookcases there were in the bedroom, there were seven. I'm pleased they didn't ask how many books.

Spark

This  evening we were thrilled to host the Nelson launch of Rachael Craw's YA novel 'Spark'. It was delightful to see so many supportive family and friends at this sparkling occasion. Thank you to Hayley for being a fantastic MC and to Rachael for writing such a stunning debut novel.