When long-time co-owners Jason Lake and Katherine Woehlert announced five months ago that they were putting Imprints on the market, it created nervousness among not only their loyal customers, but also Adelaide’s broader cultural community.
The independent bookshop has been a fixture on Hindley Street for 40 years – albeit originally further along the strip at No. 80 – and some feared it might disappear. The decision to sell certainly wasn’t an easy one for Lake and Woehlert, who have owned Imprints since 2007 and both worked there before that.
Now, however, they have exciting news to share: the shop has a new owner, Amelia Eitel, who will take over from Monday, August 12.
“This is very much a passion project for me,” Eitel tells InReview, sitting alongside Lake in the same back room of the shop where he and Woehlert met with writer Jo Case back in March to talk about their decision to move on.
“I’ve always loved books and stories and they’ve always been part of my life. I’ve had lots of different jobs – I’ve been an occupational therapist and I’m currently a pharmacist – but I was looking for something a little bit different… with a different pace, in a different environment.”
Eitel, who was born and raised in Adelaide, says that Imprints represents exactly the kind of opportunity she was seeking.
“Imprints, I think, is such an important part of Adelaide. It’s a very well-loved bookshop and it’s one that I’ve loved as well, having been at uni in the City West Campus.”
Eitel says Lake and Woehlert have been like mentors as they help her get to grips with what is involved in running the bookshop. And while it may be a different kind of business to a pharmacy, she notes that getting to know regular customers and building a community is central to the success of both.
“I think that what’s so special about Imprints is how it is,” Eitel says, when asked if she envisages making changes to the shop.
“It’s obviously a beautiful space and has such a beautiful selection, and I think that’s what people love about it.
“I think it’s inevitable that some things will likely be a little bit different but my hope is that I can maintain the heart of it and make it a place for the community to come and find their next book and feel welcomed and safe and still have that beautiful experience that has been maintained by Katherine and Jason over the years and that’s so special.”
Jason Lake and Katherine Woehlert outside Imprints. Photo: Jack Fenby
Lake tells Eitel she has the most important attribute – a passion.
“That’s a great place to be starting from. And you have to put your own spin on it because you’re here now… it will become your shop and there will be things on the shelves that reflect you and your interests and the new people that you bring in.”
He comments that some of Imprints’ regular customers have been coming for 40 years, since it was first opened by original owners Graham Miller, his wife Gayle Miller and her friend Patricia Sykes. (Later, Miller’s son Greg Mackie became the co-owner with Gayle.)
“We have one regular who’s now in his 90s and we sell books to his daughter and to his granddaughter, which is fantastic,” Lake says.
He and Woehlert are clearly happy to know that Imprints and its customers will be in safe hands. Lake, a lifelong bookseller, isn’t sure exactly what he will do next when it comes to work, but he does have one priority.
“I will read my library now,” he says with a grin.
“And that was a revelation not that long ago. I was just kind of staring at my books one day and my daughter came in and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said, ‘I’ve just realised that I now really get to enjoy what I’ve built for 35 years and to just follow my own path and read’.”
So how many books does he own?
“I’ve catalogued about 1500, which is maybe half of them in my house, and my long-suffering parents also have a spare room that is chock full of boxes as well… it’s impossible to part with them.”
Eitel, who describes herself as a broad reader, has her own ever-growing stack of to-be-read books: “I also have a spreadsheet of books,” she says, laughing. “And I’ve already got some on the orders list that are going to be coming in.”
“Your TBR project is about to get out of hand,” Lake warns. “But you’ve got to let it get out of hand. There’s no point in trying to control it because you will never get on top of it.”
The thing he will miss most about working at Imprints is the customers: “The relationships that have turned into friendships I’ve had for 30 years. They’re amazing people.
“There’s been a lot of grieving going on – us and our customers. They were grieving with the thought of the shop disappearing and now as they trickle in and we tell them next Monday is the day [of the handover], their faces light up knowing that Imprints has found an owner and will continue – it’s their bookshop… they’ve all got a stake in it.”
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Eitel says that taking over such a well-loved independent bookshop feels like “a huge honour but also a big responsibility”.
“I’ll do my little bit in the overall story of Imprints – I’ll just be one part of it. It’s bigger than me… that’s the dream, right, that it continues.
“One of the reasons that I feel like it’s a responsibility is because it is their [the customers’] bookshop, it’s Adelaide’s bookshop… it’s the community that I’m so interested in and want to be a part of.”
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