Changing Faces: Matakana Village Books

After many years of working in libraries and other people’s bookstores, Mary-Liz Corbett has achieved a lifelong ambition with her purchase of The Village Bookshop in Matakana.

It seemed the next logical step for Mary-Liz, who has worked at The Women’s Bookshop in Auckland and Wild Swans in Milford, and has also worked in the library supply business, run the ACG Senior College library and organised all the book sales at recent Auckland Writers festivals.

“I’ve always wanted to own a bookshop and this is such a lovely one,” she says. “We have a house at Mangawhai and the drive over the hill is really easy; it used to take me over half-an-hour just from Milford to Ponsonby.”

Mary-Liz says she won’t be making huge changes to the Matakana shop.

“I only bought it because I loved the shop that Tracey (Lawton) had made. It’s such a well-loved bookshop, not just in Matakana but also in Auckland. Many people know it.”

However, she is tweaking the name to Matakana Village Books and bringing in computerisation behind the scenes.

“Tracey wrote everything down by hand, but I’m going to have all the stock computerised. We’ll have a website – matakanavillagebooks.co.nz – where you can order from the website and buy online. You can either come in and pick it up – click and collect – or get it posted out. Or you can email us and we’ll find books for you.”

Mary-Liz will also be producing a regular newsletter, as well as continuing the shop’s loyalty scheme, gift wrapping service and support for local book groups, plus sales of cards, gift wrap and selected toys.

She says she is already loving life in Matakana.

“Everyone has been so supportive. People pop in and say hello. It’s a lovely place to work.”