Book-lovers paradise 'Hard To Find Books' at risk of closure.
Hard To Find Books is at risk of closure. But there may be ways that we can help!
Bibliophile. The Cambridge dictionary defines this word as ‘a person who loves and collects books.’ Auckland offers a range of bookstores for resident bibliophiles, from Unity Books in the CBD to many second hand bookstores. But if I were to guess, every book-lover (or person in need of an aesthetic insta photo) would name Hard To Find Books as the greatest.
Found in Eden Terrace in an orange brick building, Hard To Find Books is the book lovers paradise. Room after room of book-covered walls with specific rooms for fiction, non-fiction, sheet music, and comics. In the main room by the reception desk, there’s locked bookshelves stacked with antique classics.
I can’t count the number of times that I’ve spent hours wandering from room to room, looking through their selection, and everytime emerged with items that I still treasure to this day. From the collection of sheet music I found two large collections of classical pieces for piano, and still to this day, four years later, I haven’t ran out of new pieces to learn from them. For a friend’s birthday, I found an old edition of a Tintin comic. But my most prized possession from Hard To Find Books is an old, navy-blue bound copy of Keats poetry. Inside as a bookmark was a small folded up piece of paper with verses from the book typed out on a typewriter. On the front page, a hand-written note from an uncle to his nephew, dated Christmas of 1921.
This is the magic of Hard To Find Books. Amongst the over 200,000 copies of books, 80,000 of those being in the building itself, you can find small pieces of history, connecting you to the book-lovers of years long gone.
The magic, however, is under threat. Hard To Find Books is on the brink of closure.
It’s not the first time that the bookstore is at risk of closing. Eight years ago, they had to move from their original location in Onehunga due to increasing rents, and were grateful to find a home in a property owned by the Catholic Church. However, the Church recently decided they want to put the property on the market, and not renew the bookstores lease which ends in December. This effectively evicts Hard To Find Books. While there is a second location for the bookstorein Dunedin, the end of this one in Auckland will be a tremendous loss for the city.
There aren’t a lot of properties in Auckland that would be able to house such a large number of books as effectively as the current building does, and it goes without saying that rent prices in this city, whether for individuals or businesses, are absolutely atrocious.
Owner Warwick Jordan who has been running Hard To Find Books for over 45 years has stated that they will remain in business until February of 2026, but it seems that the future beyond that is currently unknown.
I was absolutely devastated when I heard the news. Unfortunately after the pandemic, news of business closures, specifically of bookstores has been somewhat of a pattern. The University of Auckland’s own on campus bookstore, UBIQ, announced that it was going into liquidation just last month. It’s simple to dismiss these closures and blame the pandemic and say that there’s nothing that could’ve been done, but that’s simply not true.
Unless Aucklanders want to live in a soulless, concrete jungle, we need to make an effort to protect historical parts of our city. This includes gems such as Hard To Find Books. What will happen to all of those books, those small remnants of history, if the bookstore fails to find a new location?
The Catholic Church once performed a miracle for Hard To Find Books in 2017, and they can most certainly do it again. Take the teachings of kindness which their Lord gave them, and extend it to this beloved bookstore.
There has been a givealittle campaign set up to raise money in hopes of potentially being able to buy the property. Alternatively, buying or selling books will also help the business. However, if you’re unable to help financially, I would encourage you to write an email to the general manager, and the media spokesperson for the Catholic Church. Tell them what Hard To Find Books means to you, to Auckland, and to book-lovers all over the country. Urge them to rethink their decision.
And if you haven’t already, go and see the bookstore for yourself. Talk to the lovely staff, take in the sight of the sheer volume of books in front of you, and realise that there is truly something for everyone found on those shelves.
Emails of Church's Media Spokesperson and General Manager:
