New Book Boutique owners realising their life’s dream

The new owners of Bundaberg’s beloved Book Boutique have promised not to “mess with” the vibe which has attracted plenty of regular customers.

Meagan and Jamie Stowe are realising their life's dream by taking over the Book Boutique bookstore cafe.

The stars aligned for Meagan and Jamie Stowe, the new owners of the Book Boutique, when they saw the store advertised for sale on Facebook.

Avid readers and long-term customers of the Bourbong St store, the Moore Park couple started dreaming of opening a bookshop cafe 11 years ago when their youngest daughter, Indianna, was born.

“It was just all I wanted to do, but I thought it was a pipe dream and I thought it would never happen,” Mrs Stowe said.

“And then we saw it was for sale, and all the stars aligned. It was like, ‘wow, this is this is where we can make our dreams come true’.”

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The couple took over the store on July 1, three years since the business last changed hands, and are very much aware that the store’s cozy feel is its greatest appeal both to new visitors and a loyal band of regular customers.

The store’s cozy feel is its greatest appeal both to new visitors and a loyal band of regular customers.

“We love the vibe, all of our customers love the vibe,” Mrs Stowe said.

“We don’t want to mess with that, we love it. It’s why a lot of people come into the shop, because it’s very inviting and cozy.”

The couple has already started building an online store including a catalogue to enable them better to keep track of the store’s holdings and service customer enquiries.

They are planning more promotion of the store through social media, including the availability of coffee and cakes which they say is not as well-known as the rows of books lining the bookshelves in every nook and cranny of the store.

Keyrings from Gracie's Handmade Keyrings of Bargara are among the products from local businesses featured in the Book Boutique.

Mrs Stowe has extensive experience working as a barista and “absolutely loves” making coffee, and is keen to make everyone aware that they can have a coffee while reading on one of the cafe’s comfortable couches.

“Some people don’t know that we sell coffee, and those that know say that it’s great coffee,” she said.

“So we just want to get more people aware.”

The much-loved and well-attended evening events including art exhibitions, poetry readings and workshops will continue but on a more regular basis, increasing in frequency from every six weeks to a monthly schedule.

Alice MacDonald organises the poetry readings at the Book Boutique, and is “excited” that the new owners will be retaining the events while bringing some innovations to the much-beloved store.

Long-term customer Alice MacDonald is “excited” that the new owners will be retaining the poetry reading events while bringing some innovations to the much-beloved store.

“I’m very happy they will keep on with the poetry readings, and I’m excited too; they seem like they’ve got a lot of new ideas to bring to the store as well and build upon so I’m very excited for that,” she said.

“I think they’re going to keep all the good things and then bring their own flair to it. They seem like a really lovely couple who have got a lot to bring to the community.”

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Most important for Mr and Mrs Stowe is that they work with local businesses; they use suppliers for the cafe, and feature products sold by other businesses at the front of the store.

“It’s important to us that Bundy supports Bundy,” Mrs Stowe said.

Find the Book Boutique at 55c Bourbong Street Bundaberg, or go to www.thebookboutique.com.au