In early September my wife and I drove to Dubbo, New South Wales for her work. We could have flown but a road trip, of almost two thousand kilometres return, was much more of an adventure.
The trip from Melbourne to Dubbo could be done in a day. Truckies constantly do it. However to utilise daylight hours we wouldn't be able to stop for long, and we certainly couldn't stop for bookshops.
So we decided stop for one night in Wagga Wagga as it's about half way and also it's a fairly major town. Apart from Op Shops, Wagga Wagga has no second hand book shops, but they do have two retailers selling new books.
Collins Booksellers Wagga Wagga has two fantastic murals promoting well known literary characters on one side of the building frontage. While inside the store there's high ceilings and generous space between its shelving to walk amongst the many books on them.
The store was busy with browsing customers when I visited and I overheard one of the friendly staff saying to one of them "We run a homeless book shelter. Every book in here is waiting for a good home". I'd never heard this phrase before but it seemed quite apt as I looked around. Here's a link to their website.
Gateway Bookshop was the second book store, just a short walk from Collins. Situated at the "railway end" of town, it adjoins Piazza Arcade where a small collection of retro and vintage businesses are starting to grow.
Louise, the owner, was lovely. Obviously an independant book store, she wanted to promote not only her store but Wagga Wagga in general. And the "gate" in "Gateway"... well at the back of store there's an almost secret sliding door and on the other side a huge virtual escape room that suits 2 to 6 players. Here's the link to her website including Gateway VR Escape which is just $39pp.
