Koorong has relocated in Adelaide to a new store in Payneham with the new store reported as already busy with the support of a promotional sale and a campaign on Adelaide’s Life FM.
The location in Adelaide’s inner North East is ideal according to The Other Cheek reader Ben White “The location is a good one, if you consider that the Bible Belt of Adelaide runs across the North Eastern Suburbs, going to Payneham isn’t a bad choice.”
But like other Koorong customers he’d like more stores, maybe one in Adelaide’s south which has lots of churches too.
The good showing in Adelaide, shows that the Koorong brand despite their problems with a computerisation program which generated over $7m cost for their owners the Bible Society group, maintains its vigour.
Koorong’s old Adelaide store and car park in Waymouth street in the CBD was sold in March 2023. The store site at 198 Waymouth Street raised $6.5m, and the car park across the road $2.7m The single story bookstore and car park were always likely to be redeveloped, as their zoning allows for 53m buildings – or 17 stories.
There were two challenges for Koorong brand when it was taken over by the Bible Society – a decaying computer sytem based on the MS-DOS program Distrib familar to many local bookstores a generation ago, and leases for the stores and the warehouse, several of which are still owned by Koorong’s founders the Bootes family.
The recent real estate ads for the building in West Ryde Sydney that houses Koorong’s flagship store and HQ highlihted the property issue. But Adelaide shows that Koorong can successfully transition to new premises.
A bookstore changed my life: Here are some great testimonies from Koorong staff and customers we published at Eternity.