Much-loved Hard to Find Books store on brink of closure

One of Auckland's long-running bookshops is on the brink of closure as its landlord, the Catholic Church, sells up the historic central city property.

Hard to Find Books moved to the old Newton convent eight years ago, something owner Warwick Jordan hailed a "miracle" after they were forced out of their Onehunga store because of rampant rent rises.

But the shop and its more than 200,000 books are one again in search of a new home and Jordan has no choice but to hope for yet another miracle.

There are about 80,000 books on the shelves of the Eden Terrace shop, but there are even more stored in the shipping containers sitting out back.

"There's five containers on this property, so around about 125,000 books in there."

It is deja vu for the shop, last facing closure in 2017 after 37 years in their Onehunga Mall location.

With little money, and nowhere to go Jordan wrote to the Bishop of Auckland to ask for help.

In what he described as a miracle, he was offered the grand two-storey convent, which was built in 1906 and has a Category A heritage classification.

"We moved in here and everything looked fantastic, and I thought miracles last forever and we'd be here forever and everyone was happy, but unfortunately the church has now decided they want to sell the building."

Jordan has spent hundreds of thousands on the building since moving in, which is in a condition far from its glory days.

"It's a very quirky and difficult building, its got all sorts of restrictions, it's got heritage one restrictions, you can't change it inside or out... the roof leaks like a sieve. It's landlocked if the carpark next door gets developed, there will be no access to the back of the building, the toilets are only upstairs, there's no downstairs toilets. There's endless problems... but it suits us."

Now left with hundreds of thousands of books to shift and a slim budget, the future is far from certain.

"At the moment, I have no idea where we can go or what we can do, I estimate including everything in storage it's about 17 container loads. But rents being what they are, we can't afford the kind of rent that kind of space involves."

Jordan said with the current state of the rental market, he was not confident they would be able to find a new place to go.

"I'm looking around, but I know back in 2017 we spent a year looking around and couldn't find anything."

The number of bookshops in Auckland is dwindling, as they are nationally, yet Hard to Find remains a place many Aucklanders hold dear.

Ray, a former English teacher, popped in to sell two 'boys annuals' that were published more than 100 years ago.

He said he often sells and buys his books at Hard to Find.

"I enjoy coming here because you always find something, so it's a little bit of a shame and of course also it's not just the books but also the setting... I'm sort of rather a fan of older material so I like going somewhere that's got something a bit different."

For Jordan, buying books is his favourite part of the business, meaning he's not short of stories in print, or real life.

"I've had books off a vampire, we've bought books off a number of prime ministers, brought David Lange's books, bought books when he was alive and off his estate... Sir Edmund Hillary."

The team now has until February to vacate the building, but they'll need months to pack up and move the hundreds of thousands of books and kilometres of shelving.

If they can't find a rental soon, it may be the end of a chapter for Jordan.

"I was trying to create a business that lasts for generations, I mean we've gone 42 years so far and I kind of hoped that we could be here for hundreds of years potentially long after me, because I don't think books are going anywhere."

Jordan also lives above the shop, so if they're forced to close, he won't only be out of business but out of a home.

Seven staff will also lose their jobs.

One of those will be shop assistant, Dana.

"It's a little bit daunting, and it is sad that there's a possibility that all this history and the community we built here may come to close or a shift"

Dana said working in the store has been a dream come true.

"My mum would bring me here and she loved it and she fostered a love of reading in me ever since I was really small… it's like a wonderland to be surrounded by so many books."

While they look for a new premises, staff have set up Givealittle page with the ultimate goal of buying the building.

But with a price tag of more than $4 million, they hope they will at least be able to raise enough to help them move. Even that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

With every day that passes, Hard to Find comes a step closer to turning the final pages of their epilogue, something Jordan can’t bear to imagine.

"At the moment, I can't even fathom it really, but it's horrifying to me and I feel like I'm letting everyone down, it really sucks."