Robert Ford, Business owner

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Resident of Sunshine North, local business owner of Seddon Book Alley

My name is Robert Ford, and I am the owner of Seddon Book Alley. Originally based in Charles Street, we outgrew the premises and have since relocated to our current location along Victoria Street.

Born in England, I’ve always had an interest in old books, the dying craft of book-binding and book restoration, and have wanted to run a second hand book stop. I remember the day I found the Charles Street shop. It’s next to where Poppy Lane is right now. About four years ago, my partner Kath’s job takes her overseas and interstate quite a bit. The day she was leaving, I found an old shop in an alleyway which was available for lease. It was really dusty, dirty and run down. I took a photo of it and showed it to Kath, who freaked out. In spite of her reservations, I took up the lease and spent two weeks cleaning it up. I remember thinking “Okay let’s do this, let’s see what happens.”

We started off with about 1,000 books. They were culled from my parents’ book collection, our my very own books and books from a deceased estate. This was around the time when Kindle was gaining popularity. People thought it was bizarre I was opening a secondhand book shop. We ended up with more books than we could display. 3,000 books became 30,000 and we currently have about 20 boxes at home waiting for cleaning and pricing.

Most of our books are from customers calling or walking through the door. There are two busy periods where books come in more regularly – when families are spring cleaning and early in the year when most of us are on annual leave. That’s where the bulk of our stock comes from and allows us to refill the shelves.

Our books have a rule to keep the stock interesting. We attempt to refresh our main stock every six months, niche sections not so often, or we down price them by putting them out on the $2 trolley. We visited a lot of second-hand bookshops to get an idea on how we should differentiate ourselves from them. What they are, we are not. Most second-hand bookshops can be dark, and do not engage with the customers, with a poor display of books. Seddon Book Alley presents books in a well-lit environment, it’s engaging for younger customers and our stock is always refreshed.

We run an ethical business here. Any books donated dropped off at the shop receive our store vouchers to come back and choose a new read for themselves.

For relaxation, I do enjoy reading a book, oddly enough. A printed page has a different density which helps me relax; the light from a mobile device can be stressful on your eyes.

The other aspect of up shop is the book repair or restoration work I do on customers books. We have an emotional attachment to our books; it’s hard to describe, and I love repairing them and sharing in the stories that go with them.

Bookbinding is about time, patience and skill. When you are repairing a book it is important to do this in sympathy with how it was originally made – the material’s (paper, glue etc) used to restore the book is not the biggest cost, but people need to understand what we do is with sympathy with the book. Trickier ones are the older books dating back to 1860s. The response to our move to our new location has been fantastic, although it was a big commitment on overheads. The previous spot was quirky and unique, but coming here gives us a window display, foot traffic and this street is a bit of a hub with the restaurants and cafes.

I’m a chef by trade but grew up in a household full of books. When I finished my chef training, I came to Australia with the family. This is when I started collecting old cookery books, and I showed an interest in restoring them. Once a week, I would go to Mt Macedon to learn more about books, how they are made and how to restore them. It wasn’t too far away as I use to run a restaurant in Kyneton.

I have worked across various sectors of the hospitality industry for more than 30 years and although I still love to cook, have moved into teaching. I started at Bendigo TAFE, and was teaching inmates in the prisons of Castlemaine how to cook. If you have some basic skills, you are able to look after yourself after prison, and allow you to be more employable. It was an enjoyable time.

Teaching took over full time. I am currently teaching home economics for pre-service teachers at Victoria Uni. Somehow, I managed to obtain a Masters in Gastronomy from Adelaide University through distance learning. If we can get a good understanding of good food preparation to young people, they are surely better placed to understand what is going on with current lifestyle problems, such as obesity.

Book-binding aside, food and food history are my two passions and love to research the history of ingredients and dishes; currently, I am fascinated by the history of our ‘neenish tarts’.

Seddon has a village community feel; you are part of everything that goes on in the area. Being part of the community is about giving ‘me’. This shop is never going to pay for my retirement however, I can’t see myself not doing it.

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