Dymocks Adelaide relocates to Regent Theatre

Dymocks has announced its flagship Adelaide shop will move into the disused, heritage-listed Regent Theatre in Rundle Mall, reports InDaily.

According to Dymocks, the relocation will involve a $1.5 million refit of the former theatre and will make Dymocks Adelaide South Australia’s biggest bookshop, occupying a 1000 square metre space on level one of Regent Arcade. The shop will employ around 40 staff.

‘We were obviously looking for a space that was sufficiently large to house a flagship bookstore,’ Dymocks managing director Mark Newman told InDaily. ‘We were looking for something that’s an iconic, interesting space that we could create a really interesting retail environment.’ Newman said that the site has the potential to host a cafe, event space and a large giftware section.

Under the ownership of Mandy Macky, who was recently inducted into the ABIA Hall of Fame, Dymocks Adelaide was located in the eastern end of Rundle Mall from 1991 until 2021. Upon Macky’s retirement last year, it became a smaller, pop-up shop within the Myer Centre, which closed on 10 April.

‘We’ve seen from the way that we traded in that temporary store, which has been well above our expectations, that the market’s still pretty robust,’ Newman said. According to InDaily, the new Dymocks location ‘represents the latest push to revitalise the Regent Arcade precinct, which has struggled with high vacancy rates and low foot traffic during the pandemic’.

The relocation of Dymocks Adelaide follows the opening of QBD Books’ largest store to date in Rundle Mall in March, directly opposite Dymocks’ old location, which now houses a Rebel Sport outlet. When asked about the new QBD store, Newman said it presents ‘a bit of competition that wasn’t there previously’. However, he added, ‘We operate in many shopping centres around the country with QBD in locations very close by.’

The new Dymocks Adelaide store will open at 9am on Wednesday, 20 April.

Category: Local news