Peninsula Records and Books

By Peninsula Records & Books You might have seen this recent article suggesting we should stop wasting money in bookstores and buy our books from Kmart or Big W because they’re always cheaper. It even called bookstores “on the way out”, which feels a bit rich when it ends with a disclosure about a paid partnership with Kmart. Yes, price is real. Some books are cheaper. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is $16 at Big W, and the RRP printed on the back is $32.99. It’s a solid deal, no argument there. But the broader “bookstores are doomed” claim doesn’t hold up. The real numbers Nielsen BookScan data show that in 2024 Australian print sales totalled about $1.29 billion, down 3 percent in value and 1 percent in volume compared with 2023. Hardly a collapse. Bookshops are still opening. QBD and Dymocks both expanded last year, and QBD says over 90 percent of its sales happen in store. People still want the experience of walking into a bookshop. They’re just more selective about whe...

There is something very special about our community in Stansbury. Where you ask?  Stansbury is a small coastal town on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia and home to our little book shop and record shop , Peninsula Records and Books. I mean to be honest it is pretty reflective of most country towns. Different people from differing place and ideals converging together to make this small coastal town home. Its a seaside town so incredibly reliant on visitors to keep the cafes, pubs, shops and attractions busy.... but it is also full of people that are just willing to do something for you. Put your bins in if you are away. Or in our case pick up a box of books that has just been delivered from our verandah so it doesn't get wet and hold onto it until we next open the shop. We have an active progress association and sports club so as a result things get done; cleaned and upgraded. The post office will hold onto your parcels if they don't fit into your box. You get the drif...

 Ok...  so by now unless you  1. Don't care 2. Live off the grid in an abandoned hut in the wilderness blissfully unaware of anything (btw... do you accept boarders)  you would be aware that August 12th 2025 was an enormous day for Swifties.  I bred one, a delightful 25 year old.... who is what she selfproclaims an O.G. fan.  She was there for the fearless tour in 2009 (she touched Taylor Swift's hair - OMG!), she was front and centre at Reputation and Era's Tour..... well I could write a novel about that weekend..... but anyone moving back to our point.   Yesterday was a big day.  Taylor Swift announced a New album FINALLY.... everyone could stop clowning around but also she would be announcing it on New Heights - her boyfriends podcast... I am not a therapist or relationship expert so I will leave the analysis of that to them.. personally I think it is cute.  But we are in fact (newly established) record store owners.  So when I f...

  ...and why it’s actually smarter than ever I read a few articles this week as I fell into a rabbit hole searching for release dates, and now I can’t stop thinking about why people, us included, are all so drawn back to physical stuff. Actual books. Vinyl. The tactile. Real things we can hold. There’s real science behind this. First up, reading comprehension. Studies show that people absorb way more information from paper than from screens; like up to six or eight times better comprehension when reading prints over e-readers or screens. Almost all quality studies point the same way: your brain remembers more from paper. Also, handing someone a physical book reduces stress. A classic study from the University of Sussex found reading just six minutes of anything you enjoy can lower stress by 68%. Better than music, better than tea or a stroll. Slows your heart rate, eases your muscles. Not woo woo either..  actual science.   Then there’s vinyl. Here's a stat I cou...

So picture this. It’s Saturday night. The footy’s on the TV. We’re Crows tragics through and through. Laptop’s open on my lap. Our schnauzer is curled up beside me. And I’m not watching the game, not really. I’m trawling through every single supplier, wholesaler, and distributor I can access, trying to find even one or two records from the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs that we could add to our collection. (see here for my recollection of earlier that night) And I am pretty sure I wasn't the only record store owner doing exactly this.. minus the footy and schnauzer maybe.  Some of the albums I knew we wouldn’t find. Like Down the Way by Angus and Julia Stone. We’ve had it before. Sold it more than once. And it’s on backorder but I genuinely have no clue when it’s coming. The Veronicas were my personal chase. That album? It’s a memory in itself. My daughter singing in the back seat. Little voice. Belting it out like her life depended on it. That album and early Taylor ...

We’ve pulled together a Hottest 100 Vinyl Collection to celebrate the albums that feature songs from this iconic list but really I want to talk about my reaction when the number 1 was announced... I love INXS. I grew up with INXS. I remember exactly where I was the day I heard Michael Hutchence had passed... I remember when Kylie and Michael were a thing... I remember my cousins and I playing Kick over and over like it was a religion. But when I heard that Never Tear Us Apart had taken out number 1 in the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs? I just sat there in my car yelling noooooooooooo at the radio. It wasn’t that it didn’t deserve the spot – of course it did. That song is a masterpiece. For me, it was the timing. The symbolism. That weird superstition that applies to football games in Adelaide. The Night of Number 1 It was Saturday night. About 7.34pm. Pouring with rain. I’d been listening all day as the countdown rolled on... but this was it. The top spot. I’d just dropped my...