Every thriving reading community needs good bookshops, and good booksellers. In our Meet the Bookseller series, we introduce you to some of Australia’s most loved booksellers, starting with our own local community of Adelaide. If you’d like to nominate a bookshop or bookseller to be featured, please let us know in comments, or email maddy@wakefieldpress.com.au.

Next up is Jason Lake, veteran bookseller and co-owner of the iconic Imprints Booksellers on Hindley Street. Read on to find out what he loves about being a bookseller, and how he first got into the business of books.

How long have you been a bookseller?

I’ve been a bookseller since the early nineties. My first job was at The Third World Bookstore (technically Hindley St Books and Cards, but all of the old signage was up still up), doing the six to midnight shift. Greg Mackie and Gayle Miller finally came to their senses and employed me at Imprints in 1993. I had started shopping there in 1986 and then bought the business in 2007 with Katherine Woehlert as my business partner.

What do you love about being a bookseller?

The books. I love the books. Being surrounded by them daily is good for the soul. Great pleasure is also taken in discovering a new favourite book and then persuading/insisting that customers do the same. 

We are also fortunate that we have many customers who have shopped with us over a number of years, some of them for decades, so they trust our choices and need very little convincing when it comes to good books.

What was the last book you read and loved?

The last book read and loved was The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee. Due here in September. An historical novel set in New York City at the turn of the twentieth century. A stylish, intelligent novel with no Covid, no mobile phones and no social media. Pure escapism.

What’s special or distinctive about your shop?

We are the last independent bookshop trading in new books in the CBD and it is our curated shelves (a mix of new and second-hand books), our staff and our customers that makes us special/distinctive.

You can find Imprints Booksellers at 107 Hindley Street, Adelaide, and online at www.imprints.com.au.