Book Hero rides a boom as Kiwis return to physical books
Monday, 9 February 2026
Auckland based online bookshop start up Book Hero is seeing business boom, with more than 150,000 books sold in its first year.
That is quite the feat, considering the slowdown in retail.
The business, which now stocks 80,000 books at its Hobsonville store — about four times more than when it opened in October 2024 — sells around 750 books a day.
Excluding November and December — its busiest Christmas‑driven months — sales have been rising by 20% month‑on‑month for the past nine months.
Founder Dylan Bland, a former executive at Mighty Ape, puts the steep rise in sales - almost double his initial forecasts - down to a renaissance in demand for physical books, and the business offering fast delivery and good old-fashioned customer service; often hard to come by with online retailers.
“People say, ‘Oh, it must just be older people reading’, but it's not the case. There's a big chunk there in the 20 to 30-year-old bracket and there's a big chunk in the older bracket as well. It's quite surprising. We see a massive rural customer too, from small rural communities,” Bland told The Post.
Book Hero has 60,000 customers, slightly more women than men, and is also selling to school libraries and independent retailers.
Up until Christmas it had sold 160,000 books. Bland did not want to share what that equated to in revenue or any other financial information.
In July, the company moved to a new Hobsonville location, having outgrown its initial warehouse.
About three times the size and with an adjoining book store, Bland said if sales continued to grow at the current rate, Book Hero would again need to move to a bigger site by the end of the year.
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On its busiest pre‑Christmas day in December, the store sold 1650 books, contributing to a total of 35,000 books sold across the month.
On average, Book Hero sells about 750 books each day and employs 14 fulltime staff.
“We moved into a bigger warehouse because we just ran out of space for the volumes of books that we were buying,” Bland said.
“In the previous warehouse we were in, we signed a three-year lease, which probably tells you that I am surprised by our growth.”
Bland said there had been renewed demand for physical products such as books and vinyl in recent years, as more people sought off-screen distractions, and an escape from the pressures of everyday life.
Book Hero has recently expanded into board games and puzzles, and is exploring other screen‑free products — such as Lego and educational toys — as potential additions to its range.
Bland said coming from a Mighty Ape background he knew books were a strong opportunity. He could see how many books the company sold and how its direction had shifted since changing hands five years earlier.
“I love books and I could see the book market was underserviced in New Zealand.”
He said Book Hero focused on overnight delivery and “good old‑fashioned” human customer service — the same qualities Mighty Ape was known for before its sale to Australian e‑commerce giant Kogan.com for $128 million in December 2020.
Book Hero is one of the biggest holders of books in New Zealand, following the withdrawal of a number of large publishing houses such as Harper Collins more than five years ago.
Rise in book sales
Retail commentator Chris Wilkinson, managing director of First Retail Group, says sales of books around the world have been on the rise.
“Books are affordable and were one of the 'hot items' this Christmas,” Wilkinson said.
“Books are an escape, which is a theme very much sought out by people currently given the challenging world we live in.
“This growth is not just happening here but also in Australia and the UK. There, brands like Waterstones are opening new stores and growing existing ones.”
Niche themes such as romance novels were captivating the attention of consumers, with strong engagement coming from younger consumers, Wilkinson said.