The Two Wee Bookshops’ owner Ruth Shaw shut the doors for the last time of her Manapōuri shops in April and has sold the business to neighbour Inger Nicholson.
The international best-selling author of The Bookseller at the end of the World, Mrs Shaw has run the bookstore at her home for about 10 years.
Before that she ran a bookstore at the Manapōuri office of the charter boat business she and husband Lance owned.
Mrs Shaw said she had always loved books.
"I’ve still got a lot of my children’s books, and I’ve got some of my mother’s books as well.
"I’ve got about seven libraries of books here at home."
Fortunately, Mr Shaw was fond of books as well.
"I don’t know if he really wanted to have as many as we’ve got."
The challenge with loving books was resisting the temptation to buy them, Mrs Shaw said.
However, owning a bookshop was a great help.
"It means that you can go and buy heaps and heaps of books without having a bad conscience."
It also meant she had an endless supply of books.
After the charter boat business sold, Mrs Shaw went without selling books for a few years.
"Then I opened a bookshop next to our house here in Manapōuri, which was just going to be a hobby."
In time, two more standalone rooms were added to house the books.
Books about natural history featured in the collection as well as children’s books.
"We’ve got the men’s shop that sells hunting and fishing and tractors and trains and motorbikes and a lot of war books."
Bookshops were special places and were different from other shops.
"If you drop something, you’re not going to break it."
People were with others who also had an interest in books.
"They just respect each other … and you don’t have arguments in bookshops either."
After the book which tells the story of the first half of her life was published in 2022, many people came from throughout the world to visit.
Some of the interesting people she had met in her time at the bookshop were featured in her books.
The highlight of owning the bookshops had been "every day".
It had been very satisfying helping people find the book they had been looking for, even if the book was in her personal collection.
People seemed to rediscover a love for reading during the Covid-19 pandemic, she said. "There is still a lot of people that want to go and browse in a bookshop and buy books."
She was "sad" to sell the bookshop but knew it was the right thing to do.
Ms Nicholson was younger than her, had some new ideas and was enthusiastic.
"I’m still enthusiastic, and I’ve still got lots of ideas, but I’m 80, so I’m just a little bit old, and I get very tired after a very busy day at the bookshop."
It was important the bookshop stayed nearby.
"A lot of people come from overseas that want to come to the bookshop and it belongs in Manapōuri, nowhere else."
The children’s book she had written would be published in October and she was writing her fifth book.
Ms Nicholson is mentioned on page 93 of the bestseller.
She found some books in a shed at the camping group her family owned and brought them to Mrs Shaw.
Ms Nicholson said it was "kind of funny" she was mentioned in the book and now owned the bookshops.
She and her family had lived in the town since the 1970s and had been friends with Mrs Shaw after she arrived in the town about 40 years ago.
The concept of the bookstore had appealed to her, she said.
"I thought that was really a cool idea, because I’ve always had a passion for books myself, and bookstores."
She had not realised the bookstore was for sale until Mrs Shaw asked her if she was interested.
"It’s a hard act to follow, but I really love preserving history and I love … that we’re going to keep these books there for people that are interested."
In this age of computer ordering, it was "incredibly important to be able to pick up a book".
The three standalone rooms which comprised the bookshop have been shifted down the road to where her family has some land.
It was ironic that she and her family had been in the hospitality business for many years, encouraging people to visit the "most beautiful lake" in the country, Ms Nicholson said.
"You couldn’t lure them over here because it was a beautiful lake or anything like that, but one person writes one book and then there’s people coming from everywhere."
She hoped to open the bookshops in October.
