Alan of Crow Books joins us for the month of February with a short Q&A about his East Victoria Park bookshop. Having set up the great book store Planet Books in Mount Lawley, he decided to move on and live his dream – opening up his own bookshop. Shortly after picking a spot, Alan put it together in the space of a few weeks, with a bit of help from family and friends, and Crow Books was born. Stocking titles across a wide variety of genres, including hard to source books, he takes pride in creating a community bookstore where locals can pop in for a chat and a book recommendation. We couldn’t agree more, it really is a fantastic place to browse and discover your new favourite book!
1. Tell us about how Crow Books got going:
I wanted to keep working with books. If I could get Crow up & running, I’d hopefully have a great bookshop, feed my kids and support my habit (reading). Also, I feel strongly about the importance of literature in a place’s sense of itself and wanted to be a part of that conversation in WA – we’re home to the Burrup after all, the world’s oldest continuous written story. So we pulled in favours from friends & family, stripped the old shop, fitted-out mostly by ourselves and were open in 6 weeks.
2. What’s the best thing about owning your own book store?
Hopefully, I can keep doing what I love – reading, listening to music, drinking coffee. Good book shops become a hub for people who are interested about things & stuff – architecture, music, art, history, graphic design, literature, poetry, science, picture books… You develop relationships with people with a broad range of interests. Vic Park’s great for diversity.
3. This might be a little tricky to narrow down, but what are your top 3 books of all time?
Way too hard, though I think it started with Blinky Bill, and was most recently 2666.
4. Where do you go for coffee near your shop?
Depends how I’m feeling (other than desperate). East Vic Park has a few great coffee spots including The Imp, Antz Inya Pantz, and 868 Gourmet.
5. What’s your favourite thing to do in Perth?
Kicking back in my hammock reading, listening to Out to Lunch. I’m also loving taking the dog for a night walk. After 9, things cool down. I’m looking forward to getting out to gigs again.
6. Describe Crow Books in one sentence:
Do you know Crows are smarter than most monkeys? Alan.
Cheers Alan! If you enjoy reading too, then check back on our blog every Friday during February for a guest blog post of Alan’s top picks across a variety of genres. Or if you’re a little impatient, then pop over to his website for more literary goodness.