Officially opened at Chatswood Westfield Shopping Centre on Thursday, 9 April, the second Sydney store of Books Kinokuniya attracted long queues before the 10am opening, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony, with visitors receiving branded biscuits featuring the store’s mascot, Moichi.
Founded in Japan in 1927, Books Kinokuniya opened its first overseas store in San Francisco in 1969 to serve Japanese communities abroad and introduce Japanese culture to local audiences. It now operates more than 140 stores worldwide.
The bookstore entered Australia in 1996 with a store in Neutral Bay, relocating in 2002 to The Galeries on George Street in Sydney’s CBD, where it remains today. Its flagship store carries over 300,000 titles across English, Japanese and Chinese, alongside manga, art, culinary books and stationery, positioning it as a destination for curated and specialist titles beyond mainstream offerings.
While smaller than its CBD flagship, the new Chatswood store retains a focused selection of Australian and international literature, Japanese and Chinese titles, manga, children’s books and curated works tailored to Sydney’s North Shore community.
According to a media release, Satoshi Yada, Managing Director of Kinokuniya Australia, said: “Chatswood is a uniquely vibrant community, making it an ideal environment for a bookstore that celebrates creativity and curiosity. The new store aims to become a welcoming anchor point within this dynamic neighbourhood.”
In recent years, Chatswood has emerged as a key landing point for Asian brands targeting affluent, younger, experience-driven consumers. Combining major modern retail centres with a strong Asian dining and retail presence, it presents a logical location for a bookstore with a multilingual, youth-oriented and culturally specific offering. In late 2025, Chinese lifestyle retailer MINISO opened its first Australian MINISO LAND flagship at Westfield Chatswood, featuring an immersive, IP-led retail concept.
The opening reflects broader demand for multilingual reading material and illustrated content in Australia, particularly across manga, and ACG (animation, comics and games). That demand is helping support specialist retail formats aimed at bilingual readers, younger consumers and niche cultural communities.
In contrast, foreign-language bookstores in Sydney have followed different paths. Chinese bookstores such as Xinhua once served as key access points for imported books and media but have declined as digital platforms and cross-border e-commerce reduced reliance on physical retail. French-language books, meanwhile, remain fragmented, supported by specialist retailers like Abbey's Bookshop and cultural institutions such as Alliance Française de Sydney, rather than large-scale bookstores.
More broadly, Australia’s physical bookstore sector has undergone significant change over the past decade. The collapse of Borders Group in 2011 marked a turning point, underscoring pressure from online retail and digital reading. Local chains such as Dymocks have since adapted, focusing on curated ranges, loyalty programs and in-store experience to maintain their footprint. At the same time, independent bookstores like Gleebooks have built loyal followings through events and community engagement, reinforcing their role as cultural hubs.
Cover image source: Launch Story