Tomorrow is New Zealand Bookshop Day, an event championed by the Booksellers Association of New Zealand to encourage book lovers to celebrate their local bookshop.
Having not quite achieved the milestone of one full year in business, tomorrow is Book Hero’s first opportunity to take part in Bookshop Day, and we’re celebrating with a one-day-only flash sale so your book budget stretches even further, free espresso coffee and muffins for visitors to our bookstore in Hobsonville, free bookmarks, competitions and exclusive warehouse tours.
Bookselling is a profession as old as time, and in 2025 there are many different ways to buy a book. Online, high street stores, shopping malls, subscription services, Kindle, Kobo - we’ve even seen airport vending machines.
New Zealanders treasure their local bookstores. Books serve as inspiration, motivation, a source of knowledge and entertainment, a wonderful educational resource and source of joy for children. Bookstores oftentimes also serve as the hub of a local community by hosting events and bringing like-minded people together. Bookshop Day is an opportunity to celebrate that.
At Book Hero, we love all bookstores of every shape and size, and we recognise that customers and booklovers are all looking for something different from their book buying journey. Books make people better and bookstores make communities better. Whenever we’re fortunate enough to travel we love visiting local stores and buying a book - carrying a little piece of that town or city home to our bookshelf.
Our cosy bookstore might only hold a few hundred books, but with more than 50,000 titles right next door in our warehouse, we’re bound to have what you’re looking for. Come by and say hello to the team!
Our vision for Book Hero is a store that embraces the many wonderful advantages of technology and living in a digital world, whilst at the same time being part of the physical world with an in-person connection with our local customers and community here in Hobsonville.
When starting Book Hero, we knew that we wanted to stock the widest range of amazing books possible, and we wanted to reach as many Kiwi customers as possible. Books for every reader’s taste delivered quickly to all corners of the country. After all, not every town or community is large enough or fortunate enough to have a bookstore of its very own.
This meant being an online-first company. We traded an expensive small footprint retail store with lots of foot traffic, for a (still rather expensive!) large footprint warehouse with almost zero foot traffic, but room for lots of books. Lots and lots of books - 50,000 books and counting! The world is blessed with so many amazing books, all packed with life-changing ideas and stories, that we didn’t want to be limited by the size of our shelves, or restrict the number of Kiwis who could enjoy shopping with us. So online first was an easy choice.
Our warehouse is home to over 50,000 books which can be delivered overnight anywhere in New Zealand - or if you visit in-store, we can grab one while you wait!
Supporting local and having a real-world connection with our customers is also incredibly important to us, which is why we’ve always encouraged in-person Pick Ups from our warehouse, and more recently, invested in a beautiful bookstore where you can browse a small selection of our whole catalogue, and chat with the same team who answer your emails and pack your orders. We’re not a faceless offshore corporation - we’re just a bunch of book people running a business and trying to improve the lives of our team and customers. We’re forever grateful for the support shown to Book Hero by customers, authors, publishers and everyone who’s sent a reader our way.
As we continue to look to the future, we can’t wait to host more author signings and community events in our bookstore, plus of course continue to grow our in-stock range to ensure you can always find the exact book you’re looking for. We will continue to innovate with new ways to discover books online, and have them delivered quickly and efficiently. We don’t take your support for granted and it’s a pleasure to be of service to you and Kiwi readers throughout New Zealand.
Happy Bookshop Day!
Thanks for backing our independent bookstore and local team!
