‘Your favourite second hand bookstore from the comfort of your couch’



We are a small two-person team based in Hamilton. It probably goes without saying, but we love reading and books, and have been collecting second hand books for many years. A normal holiday for us would involve trekking to as many op shops and second hand stores we can find in a new town, and spending hours browsing.

This has changed somewhat over the past two years, due to chronic illness and disability (not to mention the world shutting down last year!) Suddenly, collecting books was much harder, and the feeling of exploring a second hand store not sure what you’d find, was lost. At the same time, we realised how difficult it is to shop ethically when, as a housebound person, you can’t access shops or control the packaging.

In an ideal world we would all love to support small, local businesses while shopping ethically and sustainably (both product and packaging). However most of the time it becomes a choice between these options - either sacrificing price, supporting a large chain instead of a local business, or receiving items wrapped in layers upon layers of plastic.

And so the idea of Books for Less was born. Our website aims to provide an easy to navigate, cost effective and sustainable option for a meaningful hobby.

Our focus is on sustainability and re-purposing, so all packaging will be cardboard (re-used or recyclable) with paper tape, or in home compostable bags. Please don’t be surprised if you order a bunch of books and they turn up in a baby food box or similar!

Our key aims are to:

- reduce waste - giving secondhand books a new home;
- reuse where possible - repurposing boxes and packaging, and hopefully at a later date, books that are damaged beyond repair;
- and recycle what we can’t reduce or reuse.

While we love supporting new authors (we’re also passionate library supporters too!) we also realise how many great books are already out there in print, and want to make it easier for people to access these.

In addition, each month we fundraise for a NZ charity. These charities are often personally significant to us, being something we have been involved in or who might not be reached by the average person, but if you have a suggestion for a charity, please let us know!

Our website will be an evolving, ever changing thing - a bit like a normal secondhand bookstore. We hope you enjoy browsing, find some treasures, and spread the word!



Thanks,

Anne-Marie and Moses