The country’s largest Australian-owned and operated book retailer, QBD Books, has opened a new store in Melbourne’s south-eastern bayside suburb of Frankston.
Marking the company’s first new store in 2023 and the 86th in its national network, the store launch was attended by Paul Edbrooke MP, State member for Frankston, and Cr Nathan Conroy, Mayor of Frankston, as well as three renowned Melbourne crime fiction authors – JP Pomare, Christian White and Kerryn Mayne.
The new store is positioned within Bayside Shopping Centre and is home to QBD’s extensive collection of best-selling and discounted products, including the Australian Geographic range.
According to QBD Books national manager, Gary Parker-Shirley, the Bayside store opening makes sense for a number of reasons.
“Frankston is well known in Victoria and beyond as a haven of book lovers who have a voracious appetite for new books and author events. It’s for this reason that Frankston has been one of the locations that has been most requested as a new store location,” he said.
“On top of this, with local authors such as Christian, JP and Kerryn in the community, there’s clearly a thriving literary scene in Melbourne’s south-east.”
QBD Books CEO and children’s author, Nicholas Croydon added, “As Australia’s largest and fastest growing team of retail booksellers and enthusiasts, we are thrilled to finally be joining the Frankston community with the opening of our 86th national and 17th Victorian book store at Bayside Shopping Centre.
“We’re incredibly excited to see the QBD Books network further expanding, and I’m looking forward to announcing more store openings throughout 2023.”