Auckland’s oldest surviving bookstore closing after 55 years
Tuesday, 15 October 2024
Jason Books is closing its doors after 55 years.
Owner Maud Cahill is retiring, while the lease has also run out for the store.
Opened in 1969, Jason Books is the last generalised secondhand bookstore left in Auckland’s CBD.
It has been open for 55 years, but it is the final chapter for Jason Books.
The oldest surviving secondhand bookstore in Auckland is closing its doors for good at the end of 2024, with their final day to be Christmas Eve.
Opened in 1969 on High Street, the independent store has moved around, finding a home on Lorne Street in 1999, before settling at its current location at Chancery Chambers on O’Connell Street.
The last remaining generalised secondhand bookstore in the Auckland CBD, Jason Books has been owned by Maud Cahill since 2002, however, after 22 years, she told Stuff she is retiring.
“The timing of my deciding to retire just had to do with the change in ownership of my building, which meant that the possibility of continuing my lease wasn't going to work. So I decided this was probably the time.”
Cahill said this is it for Jason Books, after she initially contemplated the possibility of handing the store over to new owners.
“I did put the feelers out, just to see if I could find someone younger, more energetic, who really wanted to do it, because it's quite a successful business, but it could have just been moved and continued, everything's online, and it's a good stock, but that hasn't happened, so I had to make the decision to close it.“
Cahill added she would have loved to see the shop continue, but admitted times were hard for retail.
“It’s tougher than it used to be. Retail is always up and down, up and down, that is kind of what you take on when you take it on. I think things just shift around you know.”
The closure comes on the back of another secondhand bookstore, Dominion Books, closing in 2023 after 37 years on Jervois Road in Herne Bay.
Just some of the remaining bookstores in Auckland, include, Time Out, Unity Books, Hard To Find Books, Rare Books, and Devonport Vintage Bookshop.
Despite it being the end of an era with Jason Books, Cahill believes secondhand bookstores like her’s can survive into the future.
“I think there will be new secondhand bookshops, they might just pop up in different places. The person who takes it on has to be someone who knows what they are doing and is really keen,” she said.
2024 has been a year of closures in Auckland, with many long-standing hospitality and retail businesses shutting their doors.
In July, Ponsonby restaurant SPQR announced they were closing after over 30 years, while in May, retailer Smith & Caughey’s flirted with closure, before announcing their intention to downsize their operations to one level at their Queen Street store.