Iconic Bookshop Returns to Melbourne CBD After Hiatus
When it opened from tiny premises at the Metropole Arcade in 1960, The Little Bookroom was heralded as Australia’s first retailer devoted exclusively to children’s reading.
The Victorian branch of the Children’s Book Council has given The Little Bookroom literary as well as historical significance.
It quit the city for Carlton North in 2005 after also trading from sites in Equitable Place and Elizabeth Street.
Fitzroys senior associate Mitchell Humphreys said it was a “rewarding experience” to bring the popular bookshop back to town. He expects the bookshops presence, being a non-food retailer, will boost the vibrancy of Degraves Street, which runs from Flinders Lane to Flinders Street, between Elizabeth and Swanston streets.
Annual rent for 5 Degraves Street was advertised at $65,000 per annum, or $2167 per square metre.
