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135 Years Of The Well-Read People Of Dymocks

With 65 stores in Australia and over 10 million books sold last year, Dymocks is the leading bookseller in Australia.

As a family owned business and the oldest Australian-owned bookstore, Dymocks prides itself on meeting the leisure,

learning and gift needs of all booklovers. As a franchised network Every Dymocks store is owned and operated by locals who

are extremely well-read and passionate about books. They do more than just sell books but rather support their

communities by expanding their reading knowledge.

Dymocks is constantly evolving to keep pace with today’s customer and prides itself on setting the standard in bookselling

and leading the way with the same enthusiasm and progressive retail approach that has ensured its business success to this

day.

Our Beginnings

The origin of the Dymocks flagship store on George Street – Sydney’s greatest bookstore – goes back to 1879 when young

William Dymock commenced business as a bookseller in nearby Market Street. In 1922, the Dymock family purchased the

site of the old Royal Hotel in George Street upon which was built the historic, Art Deco landmark Dymocks building,

completed in 1930.

As his business grew, William moved to larger and grander premises until, in the 1890s, he had a million books in stock. He

died in his thirty-ninth year. Unmarried and childless, he left the business to his sister Marjory, who was married to John

Forsyth. From that time onwards, the Forsyth family has managed Dymocks.

In 1981, John Forsyth, William Dymock’s great nephew, decided to take over the company, selling his own successful

printing and publishing business.

As Chairman of the Dymocks Group of Companies, John Forsyth wished to preserve the company's heritage and great

bookselling tradition whilst making sure it constantly reinvented itself and kept abreast of the changing Australian market.

After investigating innovative book retailing concepts in the U.K., America, Europe and Japan, he returned ready to

implement retailing concepts which were unheard of in Australia, and only recently introduced overseas.

In 1986, the Dymocks Franchise System was set up, allowing people to have their own piece of this great bookselling

tradition. Since this time, Dymocks stores have been successfully opened throughout the country. Following the opening of a

store in Hobart in 2000, Dymocks opened its flagship store in Melbourne’s CBD in 2001 and in Brisbane in 2002 –

completing the line up of flagship stores in all states.

These stores, along with expansion into key metropolitan and regional centres, are part of an overall brand strategy to

consolidate Dymocks’ market presence.

135 Years Of Great Recommendations

The Dymocks website has been developed into a world-class bookselling site. According to online search agency Hitwise,

www.dymocks.com.au (/) annually ranks in the top two websites within the category of Australian booksellers.

In addition to being a successful and growing sales channel, the website provides product news, recommendations, customer

ratings, recommended reads and promotional information to over 4 million visitors and Booklovers annually.

Dymocks customer reward program is the largest customer database in Australia specifically for Booklovers. It is a tiered,

points-based program offering real-time recommendations, incentives and rewards based on customer preferences.

Literary Events

Each year Dymocks runs over 40 Literary Events nationally with more than 12,000 of our customers attending events to

hear from a great range of authors such as Peter FitzSimons, Jackie Collins, Alexander McCall-Smith, John Connelly, Colleen

McCulloch, Peter Carey and more. The program has continued to grow and now includes hundreds of local and international

authors.

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Franchising

The Dymocks Franchise System has an advantage which very few franchise operations can offer. We have been booksellers

for more than a 135 years. It is this good name and our reputation for excellence in bookselling which you will share as a

Dymocks Franchise Owner.

It is no accident that franchising is the fastest growing method of conducting business. Dymocks franchising combines the

experience and assistance of a large business operator with the personal attention of a motivated business entrepreneur.

Dymocks franchising offers a ready-made image and reputation, it enables you to benefit from large scale advertising which

no small business could individually afford. It gives you a set of operating systems, staff training and guidance. And of course,

it gives you the buying power of a large organisation.

For more information about the benefits of owning a Dymocks Franchise, please follow this link (/franchise/).

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