A good day

[threemonkeys]

My world has just become a little bit better place.

I have been a regular shopper at Unity Books ever since I moved to Wellington. It is an independent store that really feels dedicated to books. I just like the atmosphere of the place. But the thing is, I do a significant portion of my shopping at the "SciFi/Fantasy" sections of bookshops. In the early days, Unity did this very well indeed. It was only a small section but it was stocked creatively by a buyer who was a real fan of the genre. Despite it being a small section I knew I could go there and find books that were not on sale at any of the competition around town. Once that buyer left though, things changed. The stock in the section reverted to the same stuff that the other places stocked. Titles that the local reps pushed basically. Once Dymocks and Artie Bees got their acts together locally, Unity offered no point of difference and significantly less than those places.

But I still go into Unity fairly often. Their NZ, history and pop science sections are of interest to me and are still very good and as mentioned above, I like the atmosphere there. I went in there today and thought I'd have a quick look at the SF section just in case they had accidentally scored something I hadn't yet seen. But it was rather more than a quick look. There was lots of good stuff there. A whole bunch of stuff that I was interested in. I showed great restraint in just grabbing two books including a Kage Baker title that I had been meaning to order from the states.

I asked the person serving me if they had got a new buyer for the SF section. She confirmed that they had got a new person for that section recently and seemed quite impressed that I had noticed. She introduced me to him and we had a bit of a chat. He is a fan from a family of SF fans and is determined to change the Unity SF section into something distinctive again. He is also interested in the local goings on in the fan scene.

Now isn't that a good way to brighten up your day.

Comments

[lauriefleming.livejournal.com]

Unity is also a good place to (unofficially) buy CDs as well. The world-famous-in-Wellington Colin Morris works there most mornings and early afternoons and takes orders for hard-to-find (and easy-to-find as well) CDs and DVDs.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I have chatted to Colin there occasionally, but never thought of using him to source CDs.