Red Cross Palmerston North opens Bargain Book Shop at 321 Main St

Red Cross volunteer Maureen Anderson in the new pop-up bargain book shop at 321 Main St. Photo / Judith Lacy

Three, two, one ... blast off to Red Cross' new Bargain Book Shop.

It's at 321 Main St in Palmerston North, opposite Te Manawa in a building that probably deserves its own book.

There's fiction, including large print and a New Zealand fiction section, in the front of the shop, non fiction in the middle section, and children's books and jigsaw puzzles at the back. Biographies are split into female and male making them easier to look through. Nothing is over $3.

Red Cross is hoping to make a dent in the number of books it has sorted and ready for sale.

Volunteer Maureen Anderson says the $1 jigsaws are popular and are a wonderful calming device - set up a table in your lounge and have a go.

Anderson says the opening of the shop is timely allowing people to have a quiet browse in the time of Covid. It's less daunting than the more intense book sale with crowds of people.

The Red Cross Bargain Book Shop is open six days a week. Photo / Judith Lacy

Red Cross hopes to hold its annual book sale at Barber Hall this year. Last year's went ahead but the 2020 sale was cancelled due to Covid-19.

Long-serving annual book sale organiser Jill Spicer says the opening of the bargain shop is a win-win.

But then she counts the wins and decides there are five - for people who donate books, for volunteer sorters who enjoy the social interaction, for book buyers, for Red Cross, and for the environment.

Books are rehomed and those that don't sell are turned into paper recycling.

The money raised goes to a range of Red Cross programmes including buying good quality duvets for former refugees.

"No one should go to bed cold," Spicer says.

And for those preparing Covid isolation packs don't forget books and puzzles.

REaD Books remains open at 200 Church St, a couple of blocks away, meaning book lovers can go from one to the other. Both shops are open Monday to Saturday 10am-4pm.

The volunteers are keen to learn about the history of 321 Main St, which would until 1963 have been opposite the main trunk railway line.