5 Australia-based Stores To Source Amazing Picture Books and Board Books From
There are a lot of stores out there to buy books from but this is our dependable list for a number of good reasons.
Booktopia
Booktopia has the largest database and has the cheapest books out of the bunch. This is my default online store whenever I am in search for a particular book. Books that are in their warehouses are being shipped within 2 to 3 days. They can also source books from their local and international suppliers. Because of the pandemic though, international orders are taking longer than expected. The last time I ordered something that is out-of-stock in their warehouse, it took 18 business days to arrive. Still not bad but I vowed to not order something internationally for the time being.
Amazon
This is my next go-to store. Although Amazon here in Australia is not yet comparable to its US counterpart, I still love it. Most of the time, if I can’t find a book anywhere, I would be able to find it here. Amazon also either recommends titles that are closely related to the book I just searched for or other books that the customer also bought alongside the book I am searching for which is very helpful if title I want is out of stock.
Bookieboo
We recently got a monthly subscription service from Brisbane-based Bookieboo. We get 2 wonderful hardcover books every month on the month’s theme which they announce on the 11th of every month (last month’s theme is “bedtime stories” and this month’s theme is “food fun” which I am excited about for Kimi). I also love the surprise that comes with it because although we know what is the theme, we won’t be knowing what books we are receiving until we open the box. I wanted to introduce some variety to Kimi’s growing library in the house so that I can expose him to different topics and I think this is the best way for us to make sure that we are getting the variation that we need. Almost every day after we received the “bedtime stories” books, Kimi is always choosing them during story time.
WellRead
We also got another subscription service to complement from Northern Illawara online start-up WellRead but we are still waiting for the first box. As we wanted to stay abreast on new releases, we also took the plunge and get WellRead’s curated monthly subscription service. I think what made me decide to go for it is this promise from WellRead:
“Expect wonderful reading experiences with vibrant colours, diverse themes, inspirational characters, stories rich in imagination and heart, and maybe even a few farts thrown in for a bit of levity - all of the things kids want from good books”
And who does not want that?
Aldi
Out of all the places that you can think of, who would expect that we can get lovely picture books from Aldi? But yes we did score some great local finds! It is not always that kids books are part of their weekly special buys but when they do, they are always, always worth a trip to Aldi.
