McLeods Book Sellers

McLeods Booksellers Ltd was formerly A. T. Coates Ltd. Arthur Coates opened the shop in 1896 when Rotorua was only a small town of around 500 people. The original shop was on either Arawa or Fenton Street and then moved to Tutanekai Street after WWI. The site of the original Tutanekai Street shop is still visible today and is the right side of the current Hennessy building. In 1943, after 47 years of business, Arthur Coates retired and sold the shop to Ken McLeod. Ken changed the name of the shop and registered it as McLeods Booksellers, as it is today. The shop grew and many of the older residents talk fondly of the oak front and lush red carpet. In 1968 Ken McLeod sold the bookshop to Trevor Thorp who was a bookseller from Otorohanga. The shop has remained in the Thorp family ever since and is now at 1148 Pukuatua Street and strives to maintain its old world charm.