INDEPENDENT NEWS

Smales Farm Dymocks Owner Swaps Babies For Books

Published: Fri 1 Aug 2008 03:26 PM
Media Release
1 August 2008
New Smales Farm Dymocks Owner Swaps Babies For Books
After 11 years delivering hundreds of North Shore children, Jane Townsend is swapping babies for books.
She is about to launch her own Dymocks bookstore at Smales Farm and, with seven schools, an AUT campus and a hospital nearby, expects many of her former charges to now become her customers.
The 200 sq m owner-operated shop, which will open in late August, will stock more than 10,000 books and employ up to 12 staff, mostly local residents.
Jane, who lives in nearby Hillcrest with husband Alistair and 16-month-old daughter Milly, has always been a keen reader.
“I was a midwife for 11 years but decided it was time for a change. I’ve always loved books and particularly like the look and feel of the Dymocks stores so, when the Smales Farm franchise became available, I jumped at the chance.
“And for the past decade, I’ve effectively been growing my own customer base,” she jokes.
Jane particularly enjoys historical novels and topical factual books but admits to reading “a bit of everything” and that will be reflected in the store’s stock.
“We’re in a development which has many company offices so Dymocks Smales Farm will stock a wide range of business, finance, motivational and technology titles, plus the latest contemporary fiction.
“This is also an area with a lot of schools and young families – including us – so we’ll have a lot of parenting and health books plus study tools and a strong children’s selection, with a dedicated area just for them,”Jane says.
In addition, Dymocks Smales Farm will sell corporate gifts, magazines, cards and bus tickets.
Jane and her husband are both North Shore born-and bred. She went to Takapuna Grammar and Alistair, who now custom builds cars for the likes of Matthew Ridge, Frank Bunce and Louis Anderson, went to Glenfield College. The family lives in the house in which Alistair was born.
Dymocks general manager Andrew Howard said the new Smales Farm store would have a potential pool of 10,000 customers in the immediate area alone.
“About 3,000 people work at Smales Farm and another 3,000 at the North Shore Hospital. There’re seven schools nearby, the AUT campus and several large retirement villages so we expect Dymocks to be a very popular addition to the area’s retail mix. Furthermore, you can order anything in print via Dymocks which has access to millions of titles.”
Dymocks Smales Farm will be open seven days from late August.
ENDS

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