On the night of Friday 12 June, one store on Parnell Road was heaving with guests. Though it may not be the largest store, Lamplight Books is certainly well-loved, as evidenced by the number of attendees who showed up to celebrate the store’s 5th birthday.
Lamplight Books invited members of their community to join them in their store and back courtyard for food, cake, and celebrations. “Looking around at all our customers, it was a beautiful reminder how lucky we are to shoot the breeze with our neighbours on a daily basis,” says store co-owner Melanie O’Loughlin.
Auckland went into a lockdown within a few months of Lamplight opening, and in the years since they have also dealt with cyclones, a leaky toilet pipe, and the ongoing impact of a recession. Despite the challenges, Lamplight Books has had loyal supporters from the get-go, with people ordering their books and recommending the store to their friends and family.
For every challenge the store has faced, there have also been many highlights for co-owners Courtney Smith and Melanie O’Loughlin. Their store has been the site of book launches and author talks; they’ve been involved in large-scale events such as Aotearoa Art Fair, Auckland Design Week, and Auckland Festival of Photography; and in 2023 they were named ‘Bookshop of the Year’ at the Aotearoa Book Trade Industry Awards.
Lamplight Books also values Parnell’s business community. Melanie recalls, “Sonia from Vaniye Patisserrie told me when we first opened, that Parnell folk really want people on their high street to succeed. If you provide a service they can use, they will get behind you, and we have found this to be true”. Community connections have proven invaluable: borrowing furniture from Jardin for events; sending customers between their store and Winona Forever, or Young Dandy; and sharing their architecture and design book recommendations with Parnell’s thriving design quarter.
Whether it’s returning customers or business connections, at the end of the day, community is at the centre of Lamplight’s success story. “It really is what fuels a bricks and mortar store. So, step on into your local shops. Do it while you can, and do it with the knowledge that a couple of extra dollars is a fair price to pay for a place to go and shoot the breeze about our burning world.”
