Information and About Us

Scorpio Books owner David Cameron has been in books since leaving school to work at UBS Dunedin in 1965. Ten years later he bought the Christchurch business Pisces Books. In 1976 there was a change of astrological name to become Scorpio.

Initially, the stock was counter-cultural and quite different – cookbooks were only for vegans and vegetarians – but over the years the range has grown to include our favourites in quality fiction and crime, graphic novels, sociology and politics, business management, economics, classic history, military history, foreign languages, architecture and art, to comprehensive selections of niche topics such as woodworking, mathematics and self-sufficiency. Our store also has the largest selection of Science Fiction & Fantasy in New Zealand and our Children’s offering is ever expanding.

Before the earthquakes, we were located at 79 Hereford Street, some of the ruins of which can still be seen.

In March 2011, we moved all we could to a new location on Riccarton Road. The atmosphere was quite different out there near Westfield shopping mall but we received a huge amount of support from the local businesses and people, both familiar and new.

Later in 2011, we were approached to open a second satellite shop in the Re:start container mall on Cashel Street to promote business in the CBD. This container store moved around Cashel Mall (literally) until its final location by The Bridge of Remembrance.

In February 2016, we moved our city branch back to the same block of Hereford Street, now across the road at Five Lanes in the BNZ Centre, 120 Hereford Street. The new city shop was refreshingly capacious compared to the overflowing container store.

In March 2017, our two shops were combined into the new Hereford Street location at the BNZ Cantre. Most easily accessed from Cashel Mall across from Ballantynes, our new store is just a short walk from the new Bus Interchange, the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu.

In September 2021, our children’s section finally burst at the seams and moved across the Five Lanes courtyard to it’s own sunny location. ‘Telling Tales: Scorpio Children’s Books’ is now a dedicated children’s bookshop, run by Scorpio Books.