By Raquel Mustillo
A POPULAR bookshop which has raised close to $40,000 for charity over the last five years has opened up in a new location in Millicent’s central business district.
The Millicent Lioness Bookshop has opened for its first day of trading in George Street today (Friday) after vacating the former site in the Millicent IGA complex last weekend.
Millcent Lioness president Beccy Field said the move was prompted by the sale of the Millicent IGA complex, which is being redeveloped by the new owners.
“We knew the shop was being sold and we didn’t know what the future was, so we thought we would make the move as soon as we could,” she said.
“The girls saw South East Real Estate, who said some wonderful people would allow us to have the shop for minimal rent.
“The girls backed up the books and the shop within 24 hours and we organised with the Millicent Lions Club to help us move to the new location, which took about three hours.
“Now it is a case of unpacking it all.”
The bookshop is one of the service clubs’ biggest fundraising activities, with Ms Field estimating an average $1000 month in sales.
Following success with pop-up bookshops at Millicent’s Geltwood Festivals, the Lioness Club established the book shop in various fixed locations for the past four years.
Items for sale are donated to the store by community members and include non-fiction and fiction books, CDs and DVDs.
“Ultimately, the aim is to raise funds for the community,” Ms Field said.
“But we also want to encourage literacy within our community, so we don’t want to be selling books for expensive prices.
“We charge between $2 to $4 for books and a dollar for children’s books because we are not out there trying to make millions.
“We have people coming to visit us on a regular basis and we get people who buy half a dozen books and come in a few weeks later to return them and buy some more.
“There is a constant stream of books coming in and it is wonderful people are thinking of us.”
Ms Field estimates the bookshop has raised close to $40,000 since its establishment in 2016, with proceeds distributed throughout to organisations including Millicent National Trust Museum, Millicent Little Athletics, Imagine Millicent, Noorla Yo-Long, Millicent Soccer Club and the Country Fire Service.
“We were major contributors the Millicent Craft Group’s kiln project, we have helped the Millicent Community Learning Centre students, we helped a couple of families who were in dire need.
“We have also supported people going off to sports and those sorts of scholarship and we support awards at the Millicent High School each year.
“We also buy books for the kindy and support the Millicent Combined Churches Christmas Appeal.
“The amount of money we have raised this year has not matched previous years because we were closed for so long for COVID.”
The bookshop is one of the Lioness’ biggest fundraising activities and complements the Walnut Shop – a second hand store which has raised more than $30,000 for prostate cancer research.
Ms Field said as well as providing a community benefit, the bookshop provided a valuable outlet for Lioness members to interact with the community.
“We have 20 members and most members will take their turn every week or fortnight,” she said.
“Helen Hutchesson and Ruth Stratford are the stalwarts and they are basically running it and are always there.
“It is a great way for members to interact with community members who they may not normally interact with and keep connected.”
The bookshop is open Friday’s from 10am to 4pm and Saturday’s from 10am to noon.
