Loading...Text & Photos: Nadia Pramudita
  It is not exaggerating to say that Metropolis is a tailored bookshop for Melburnians. The independent bookseller seems to fit Melbourne’s culture perfectly, cultivating the city’s quirky culture while letting itself being shaped by the dynamics of the people. It gets more interesting to know more about Metropolis after Whiteboard Journal found out that it is more than just a design bookshop, it turns out that the people behind Metropolis are those who subtly shape the city’s hip clique: Metropolis is the trend maker.
The Curtin House on Melbourne’s Swanston Street perhaps is one of the most embraced old buildings because it holds such a strong influence for the young. There is Cookie, a quirky place to have modern Thai cuisine; The Toff in Town, where gigs from Oscar & Martin to Toro Y Moi are held; well-selected clothing shops like Bul and Someday; and a record shop, playing tunes from Beach Boys to Fleet Foxes. Go to The Rooftop Bar and watch movies on a large screen with Melbourne sky as the background the hot during summer days with a bottle of beer on your right hand and a bucket of popcorn on the left. And guess who is the brilliant brain behind all of the wonderful things? Sally of Metropolis is the one.
Everything began in 2001 when Sally and her husband bought a bookshop on the shopping street close to St. Kilda beach. After a while, they decided to move the bookshop to the city. Strangely enough, all the fittings and the wallpaper fit perfectly on the building’s wall, it seems like Metropolis was meant to be there. Sally had a clear idea of how she wanted the building to be when she first started renting out the empty spaces, “It is a well thought out plan,” said her. |
Walking in to the building, two choices are available: the stairs or the elevator. The stairs are perhaps more preferable if you are still strong on your legs. On the third floor, there you will find Metropolis, the bookshop every Melburnians dream of.The space is filled with quirky decoration, floral wallpaper, and knickknacks. It is unavoidable for the eyes to not curiously observe those things closely. The books are neatly sectioned by the category of fashion, cinema, art, graphic, interiors, architecture, cookbooks, novels, and children books. No need to ask, all the books here are carefully selected, ensuring that opening any books are a no-waste.
People love staying for hours here, browsing through the books and paraphernalia at Metropolis. Sofas and Barcelona chairs are available for visitors to sit down and have a read just to reassure themselves that it is the book they want (if not so many others). Because of its location in the middle of the city, people of any sorts can pop up to the shop. Those from students, designers, and travellers, but all are loyal customers who come to get a book recommendations from Sally. With no background in design or architecture, Sally proves that ‘people skill’ is the one and only thing she needs to run an independent bookshop, apart from the passion and love of what she does. We asked her about how she feels about the death of Border and if she feels threaten, but it does not seem to bother her. And about the rise of e-book? It is unwise to be against the technology because sooner or later it is coming, but she believes that people are not just buying books and reading them through a screen (well that sounds easy and fancy), but people are looking for the experience. After all, we still miss the smell of books and the enjoyment of finding out about books that we did not even know existed before. The joy of retail experience is what differs Metropolis from other bookshops and the virtual experience of buying books. Sally happily said that Metropolis is a labor of love, a place that she builds up from her passion, not for the numbers. Building relations with people is what she enjoys the most from being a retailer. Everyone in the creative industry in Melbourne embraces Metropolis for being such a leader in informing people through books about the current affairs and trends, especially in the design field. At the end of the day, book is still proven as the window of the world, thanks to Metropolis for making the whole experience of feeding the brain and the mind much more pleasurable.
Metropolis Bookshop |
