Decades-old New Plymouth bookshop reincarnated as Huatoki Bookstore

But Stephens admitted to some trepidation getting into the business. "Yeah, a little worried but I think there is a growth of people turning off their screens. I think there is a bit of people getting a bit overwhelmed and maybe with AI and just going, 'I'm going to turn off the screens for a while and just go to a book'. And I know there are people who still pick up hardcopy books because I'm one of them." Stephens's partner, Julianne Lafferty, was responsible for the store's look and feel. Gone were the piles of books in favour of a tighter selection of titles and a more sparce decor featuring vintage furniture which invited customers to sit and read. "We called it Huatoki Bookstore because we wanted to honour the river that flows underneath and we called it a bookstore not a bookshop because it's a storehouse of knowledge and we want people to learn and have a lovely time. "My forte is decorating spaces and making them beautiful and I think that's what we've done and people have just walked in and it's brought a lot of joy." For Lafferty, opening the bookstore was also a full circle moment as her father once owned a garage nearby. "The TAB, the RSA and the Royal Hotel were his haunts, so he used to drag me round there and because in the 70s it was what you did he'd pop me exactly outside on the footpath outside this shop with pink lemonade and peanuts because I wasn't allowed in the pub. "And I just remember happy times because people would come up and talk to me and they all knew I was Basil Lafferty's girl because he was a man around [town] and I was just happy." Visitors to the store were enjoying the new feel.