Piccadilly Bookshop’s original name sounded ‘a wee bit cheesy’

Saturday, 14 December 2024

Piccadilly Bookshop owner Neville Templeton started the book store in Avonhead Mall, Christchurch, 31 years ago, and despite the industry changing considerably, he’s still going strong.

It’s been 31 years since Piccadilly Bookshop opened, and over the decades, it’s remained in its prime position - but it almost went by a different name.

The bookshop in Christchurch’s Avonhead Mall was a brand new build during the redevelopment of the retail and supermarket outlet in the 90s.

When the site was created, Piccadilly Bookshop co-owner Neville Templeton, 72, said designers gave it the name Editions on Avonhead.

Robyn Joplin, right, has been working at Piccadilly Bookshop for 25 years, seeing the landscape of book stores change, including NZ Post and Kiwibank becoming part of the space.

“It sounded cheesy to me.”

There was also “quite a bit of yellow in the shop, something I wouldn’t have chosen”, he said, but the bright hue leant itself to the name he landed on.

Templeton wanted a word that went well with ‘bookshop’, and Piccadilly popped into his head as a word he associated with yellow.

“I liked the idea of Piccadilly Bookshop.”

He recently had an Englishman taking photos of the store who was an author living in London near Piccadilly Circus. The man told Templeton that whenever he saw a business on his travels called Piccadilly, he would take a photo.

“Some people spell it wrong, they only spell it with one ‘C’.”

Templeton was a late bloomer to book retail after spending many years at Mobil Oil. He then moved from Auckland to Christchurch and bought his first petrol stations, including one on Yaldhurst Rd.

Piccadilly Bookshop at Avonhead Mall was initially given the name Editions on Avonhead, but Templeton says that sounded “a wee bit cheesy”.

He eventually sold those and did a stint in manufacturing, then decided he wanted to get into bookshops.

“I’ve always been a very keen visitor to bookshops. Scorpio was the place I made the most visits,” he said.

Things had changed “quite dramatically” in the book world since he found the perfect spot for his first bookshop, little more than 1km from the home he shares with his wife and business partner, Helen Templeton.

Counterparts have come and gone, including London Book Shops, Dymocks, and Borders, while some remain.

The book store specialises in history, New Zealand and military, which reflects in some of their top sellers over the years, including books about rugby players and a decorated New Zealand soldier.

“There has been a huge amount of change, even before you start to think of the impact of reading books and Book Depository and Amazon.”

But it did not stop Templeton investing in book stores. He bought the post office in Rangiora and converted it to a Books and More before selling it, and retained the post shop he bought in Bishopdale Mall that he turned into his second book store.

Both his bookshops have NZ Post and Kiwibank incorporated in the space.

Piccadilly Bookshop had grown from its original 80m² to 188m² with the addition of the post shop and bank also growing the customer base, he said.

Book sales were still alive and well, he said, with publishers churning out “more books than ever”.

Templeton liked to have a variety of books: some could be found anywhere, while others were more specialised.

Non-fiction, history and New Zealand books were “the areas we enjoy stocking because there is such a reception to adult historical non-fiction and also anything to do with New Zealand”, he said.

That view was reflected in some of the store’s top sellers - Mark of the Lion: the Story of Charles Upham VC & Bar, Billy Bush: A Front Row View on Life and The Real McCaw.

“The exciting part for me is finding new books and taking chances on books and quantities of books.”