On the eve of its 40th birthday, Imprints Booksellers’ co-owners have made the difficult decision to place the popular Hindley Street shop on the market.
Imprints Booksellers has been in its current location on Hindley Street since 1999.
Jason Lake and Katherine Woehlert, who took over as Imprints’ owners in 2007 but were working there as booksellers for many years before that, announced the news on social media recently.
The pair said they had made the decision for “personal health reasons”, adding that they “hope there is someone out there who will, for many years to come, love and tend its bookshelves with passion, pride and dedication”.
The independent bookstore was originally opened at 80 Hindley Street on April 28, 1984, by its first owners, husband and wife Graham and Gayle Miller and friend Patricia Sykes, with Graham’s son Greg Mackie later becoming co-owner with Gayle.
Imprints moved to its current location, 107 Hindley Street, in 1999, and long-time employees Lake and Woehlert took over ownership eight years later.
“On the eve of celebrating 40 years of serving the dedicated readers of Adelaide, we’ve decided it is time to give Imprints a new life – and so too for us,” they said in their announcement of the sale.
“The world has changed a lot in 40 years. But as the pandemic proved, the book lives on. Long live the book!”
Imprints co-owners Jason Lake and Katherine Woehlert.
Imprints, which describes itself as “an independent literary haven in Adelaide’s West End”, has been a stalwart in the shrinking bookstore landscape. It is much loved by both readers and writers, as evidenced by the comments posted online in response to Lake and Woehlert’s announcement and customers’ optimism that new owners will be found.
Lake and Woehlert themselves have many fond memories of their time working in the shop, some of which they have shared in an interview with former bookseller and books columnist Jo Case. The feature, published on InReview, also highlights the important role Imprints has played in Adelaide’s literary and cultural landscape over the past 40 years.
This article first appeared in InDaily on 15 March 2024.
Words: Suzie Keen
Photos: Jack Fenby