The inside and outside of XO Book Co on its opening day: customers lined up down the street. (Photos: Bayleigh Gibson)<\/p>\n
But is now a good time to plunge into retail? The news is riddled with stories of Wellington\u2019s economic slump and over the past decade we\u2019ve seen the closure of VicBooks<\/a> and Good Books<\/a> as financial realities bullied bottom lines. Through it all, Unity Books on Willis St has been a beloved and consistent bedrock of indie book culture. It seems a natural move for new bookshops to nestle in close proximity to such a successful example. \u201cI\u2019m not sure there\u2019s ever a perfect time to start a business,\u201d says Gegenbach. \u201cCertainly there\u2019s a bit of worry, but my focus is on making the bookshop a beautiful, inclusive, welcoming space that people want to come and hang out in, and hopefully purchase some books.\u201d<\/p>\n Location is everything for retail and it took a lot of schlepping around Wellington viewing empty spaces before Gegenbach landed on the perfect spot of 140 Willis Street, a four minute walk from Unity Books which resides at number 57, and nestled right beside Bello, a home goods store. Part of the appeal was its proximity to other businesses that serve mostly women, who she says will form her primary customer base. \u201cPlus the florist next door is called Juliet \u2013 how perfect is that?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s poetic that XO Book Co\u2019s brand is helmed by a lush illustration of a k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d by artist Dani Bradford. Earlier this year when Gegenbach was searching around for ideas for the visual identity, Aotearoa\u2019s lusty k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d were enjoying a particularly randy time<\/a> thanks to an abundance of rimu berries. As a sex symbol and the embodiment of resilience, the plump bird is a feathery nod to the enduring appeal of the humble bookshop: \u201cthey\u2019re just looking for love,\u201d says Gegenbach.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brodie Joyce (K\u0101i Tahu, P\u0101keh\u0101) is also stoked that their bookshop Aurelia Books will be joining the Willis Street coven in July. Joyce was \u201cintentionally picky\u201d about the location and considered Old Bank Arcade, Cuba Street and Lambton Quay before settling on 109, almost right across the road from XO and a three-minute walk from Unity. \u201cIt was the best fit for a bookshop because of the layout and the ability to be open in the evenings.\u201d Joyce is planning to run events in the shop to serve P\u014dneke\u2019s close-knit book community and publishing industry. The space has an auspicious history to it too: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until after I signed the lease that I found out Unity Books used to operate there as well, quite a while ago. That solidified for me that I\u2019d chosen the right location.\u201d<\/p>\n The name Aurelia means \u201cthe golden one\u201d and is, says Joyce, \u201ca nod to a hopeful renaissance of reading\u201d. Joyce wants customers to feel welcome to come in, sit down and escape the business of the outside world by luxuriating in a good book. Aurelia is going to be a generalist store that will stock favourites such as Sally Rooney and Kazuo Ishiguro as well as classics such as Austen, Wilde and Dostoevsky. It will also stock Joyce\u2019s personal favourites such as Rebecca F. Kuang, Tracey Deoonn and Martha Wells, as well as art books and children\u2019s books.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Gegenbach, Joyce is optimistic about the economic climate. They did the market research, financial forecasting and had a mentor to help them assess risks. \u201cThe data (genuinely sexy) on the book industry this year is looking OK given the economic state of Aotearoa \u2013 and the world,\u201d they said. \u201cNot to say it won\u2019t be tough and a lot of hard mahi, but the risk of the dream is worth it to me, and just one more book in the arms of someone and their reading of a book in general is a win. I\u2019d rather try and fail, than not try at all.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also nowhere else in the world that Joyce would rather be than in the heart of Wellington. Joyce grew up in K\u0101piti and moved to Te Whanganui-a-Tara for university in 2016: \u201cI\u2019ve never wanted to leave. This city is home and while, yes, it needs a little spruce-up \u2013 it\u2019s special.\u201d Joyce loves the buskers on Cuba Street, the saxophone-playing tree man, and the iconic chicken mee goreng at Little Penang.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Gegenbach, Joyce is no stranger to the industry even though Aurelia Books is their first bookshop. Joyce completed the Whitireia Graduate Diploma in Publishing in 2026 and used to work at the recently-closed Minerva on Cuba Street. Until Aurelia opens next month Joyce is interning at Huia Publishers in their sales and marketing team. \u201cAurelia Books is a way for me to hopefully give back to the book and publishing industry, as well as the P\u014dneke community; especially my fellow LGBTQIA+ peeps,\u201d says Joyce.\u00a0<\/p>\n Find out more about XO Book Co here<\/a>, and Aurelia Books, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wellington\u2019s bookshop drought is being well and truly broken by two new indie stores opening this winter. Wellington\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[489,74301,156,111,139,69,644,250071,250072,52],"class_list":["post-500704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-books","tag-bookshops","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-retail","tag-romance-writing","tag-unity-books","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Brodie Joyce, owner of Aurelia Bookshop due to open on Willis St in July 2026.<\/p>\n