Tekapo, Milford tie for NZ’s best bookshop

Two bookstores – one on Auckland’s vaguely bustling North Shore, the other in the beautiful middle of the McKenzie Country where things are seldom ever anything like bustling – have shared top honours as New Zealand’s best bookshop.
The Booklover in Milford and Petronella’s Bookstore in Tekapo jointly won the Bookshop of the Year Award at last weekend’s annual book trade bash, the 2024 Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry Awards. The award, sponsored by Nielsen BookData NZ, was announced by MC Paddy Gower – whose own new book, an as-told-to-someone-else memoir of his life and times, is about to arrive by the truckload in every bookstore in the land and at the very least likely sell by the vanload.
“The decision was difficult,” said awards judges, “but ultimately Petronella’s and The Booklover share the award for their business success, place in the community, inviting stores and for their outstanding knowledge of their respective markets.”
Huzzah to both these exquisitely formed boutique shops. The Booklover is operated by the amazing Olivia Spooner: amazing because she has won the award after only five years in the trade, opening her store in 2019, and amazing also because she practises what she retails – her debut novel The Girl From London, a historical romance, was one of the biggest-selling New Zealand titles of 2023.
News of the award has given me a determination to shoot over the Auckland Harbour Bridge at the earliest possible opportunity and check out the apparent charms of Olivia’s shop. I gauge the quality of a bookstore on whether it stocks my latest book The Survivors: Stories of Death and Desperation – particular shout-out here to the Relay bookshop at Auckland domestic airport, which has placed The Survivors in its Pick Of The Month stand alongside Dai Henwood’s The Life of Dai, The Bookshop Detectives by Gareth Ward & Louise Ward, and Sherryl Clark’s Woman Missing – and only yesterday a reader called Tim emailed, “I can confirm that The Booklover of Milford does indeed stock your book The Survivors, as I purchased a copy just this week.”
As for Petronella’s in Tekapo, I would dearly love to darken its door and return to the town where I spent quite a lot of time after my vagabond father left the family home to make a love nest for himself and his colourful second wife at the lakeside village. I phoned Petronella owner Wilma van Bosch on Sunday for an interview and mentioned how I’d love to return to Tekapo and said, “It would be a kind of homecoming.” She said: “Yes, I know.” Of course she knows: the population of Tekapo is 500.
I said to Wilma, “Congratulations on the award! Do you have time to talk?”
Wilma has a charming Old World accent and tends to formalise her English – my Austrian father did the same; ESOL is such a strange language – and said, “I am in the shop and I do have some customers, but we’ll see how this goes.”
She opened the store in 2014. I asked, “What are some of the things you have learned about bookselling, Wilma?”
She said, “I came to bookselling because I love books and I love retail. And so combining the two was a need I had myself. It was just something I wanted to do because I wanted to do it. But what I feel far more now is that I see the importance of bookselling, especially in smaller communities, and the importance of selling our culture.
“And in my case, because a lot of my customers are from overseas and they want to read books by New Zealanders, I think it’s just so great that I can tell them about New Zealand authors. So I’ve become a little bit wiser on that and less selfish. I feel a bit of a missionary now.”
I agreed, “You are kind of a representative of New Zealand literature.”
“I sort of feel ambassador is a good way of putting it,” she replied. “So what I’m doing as a bookstore in a tourist town is showing the tourists a part of New Zealand culture. And at the same time, I am a viable bookshop. I make money. I can support a school with donations. I can support the ice hockey club with donations.”
I parroted, “Ice hockey?”
“That’s actually the only sports they play in Tekapo,” she said. “Retailers in other towns might sponsor the rugby club but we have ice hockey. So I always pay sponsorship every year and the shop logo goes on their hoodie.”
I said, “Ice hockey suggests to me that there’s an ice rink in Tekapo.”
She said, “You should know that.”
But I haven’t visited Tekapo since my Dad died. The closest I came to it since was in 2021 when Wilma invited me to appear at a literary festival in Tekapo, but Covid lockdowns put the kibosh in it. “I was so heartbroken about that,” I said.
She said, “Yeah, me too. We had the local cop lined up to interview you and it would have been very cool.”
And then she said, “Steve, can I ring you back? My customers need me.”
She called back about 15 minutes later. Her customers had driven over from Geraldine – Tekapo gets the through traffic between Christchurch and Queenstown – and bought a jisgaw. We talked for a little while about life in Tekapo. Many of the houses are holiday homes. There is no high school, and the roll at the one primary school fluctuates between  22 and 30. There is no doctor or a postal delivery, only PO boxes.
I said, “Does it have a pub?”
“The pub burned down about five years ago.”
“That’s very sad,” I said. “What was the cause of the fire?”
She said, “It was in a skip. Very dramatic. Very dramatic. And some of the older guys have been a bit lonely since, because we’ve got bars but they don’t actually have barstools. They are more like Queenstown bars, if you know what I mean.” And then she said something very wise: “I think every town needs a bookshop, and every town needs a pub.”
I asked her, “How are things going running a bookstore in what appears to be a pretty serious and damaging recession?”
“We are having a similar downward trend like other retail, but we have enough buffer and we can ride this tide. I am very positive about the future. People are already booked on their planes to come into New Zealand. So I think the next summer season is looking good.”
And then she added, “But actually the award only just came in time because I sold the shop to one of my staff members who takes over next month.”
I said, “Woah! But this is a bombshell!”
She said, “It’s a very slow, slow explosion. I am retirement age, and I need some more time with my family.”
“How old are you?”
She said, “I know for some people that would be 70, but I think 64 is a good time to see me retire.”
“Oh, we’re the same age,” I said.
She said, “Yes, I know. But I will continue working for the new owner, Sharron Binns, who has worked for me for two years. She takes over on September 2nd.”
“Good grief,” I said. “That’s any day now.”
She said, “That’s three weeks from now. But nothing much will change. She will put her own personality in the shop, but she wants it to be a bookshop, too. And I will be in here four days a week.”
The news of her impending departure was shocking, but I rallied, and had the presence of mind to ask, “Do you stock The Survivors: Stories of Death and Desperation by Steve Braunias?”
“Yes,” she said. “Do you want to know many I have? I can see five. I’ve got five at the moment. I am pleased you’re asking me that question. We’ve got five. And I haven’t read it yet, but I certainly will. It’s one of those books I will read.”
“Oh, I really hope you do.”
“I will,” said New Zealand’s joint-best bookseller. “I will do.”
Petronella’s Bookstore is located at Shop 8, Rapuwa Lane in Lake Tekapo on State Highway 8 and is open seven days a week from 10am to 5pm. The Booklover (pictured below) is located at Shop 2, Milford Road, on Auckland’s North Shore and is open seven days a week, 9am-5pm weekdays and slightly reduced weekend hours.