Help NIBS Survive Trades Hall Renovations!

The New International Bookshop is a mainstay of the left in Naarm (Melbourne) for nearly 30 years, consistently and proudly being a space for anyone who is looking for a non-partisan place to engage with leftist politics, and to get books at affordable prices. Anyone who has spent any time in the space, whether as a customer or as a volunteer, knows how rare somewhere like NIBS is, and how important it is to keep it going. Particularly as the world seems to continually get worse, we have to hold onto these moments of community and of affordable access to radical ideas.

As many of you know, Trades Hall is renovating the Victoria Street wing of the building, uncovering the gorgeous murals and fixing up some of the minor structural damage around the place - so NIBS will be temporarily relocating into a room across from the main reception at Trades Hall for approximately 6-9 months.

This shift means we’ll have less floor space in the shop for the duration of the re-location, (as we’ll need to get rid of, or store a lot of our secondhand stock) so we’re anticipating we’re going to lose a significant portion of our income. NIBS has always operated on a very thin margin - with all money raised going back into the shop to cover our operating costs, to buy books and to host events.

We’re asking for donations to help us cover this loss in income and to ensure we can keep covering our main costs of rent, paying our coordinator, and getting in the books you want to read. Any amount of money is so deeply appreciated, we know that you all want to see NIBS continue to do what it does best, and surviving the next year means that NIBS can come back bigger and better than ever.

In solidarity,

Lucy Myers, NIBS Coordinator, and the NIBS committee of management.