Retro antiques refresh bookshop

By Chelsea Boyle

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Second-hand goods from Wales, Brighton and Bristol have travelled all the way to Masterton and wound up in a classic bookshop.

When Kate Cosgrove and Mark Rogers took over Bear Flag Books and Retro three months ago, they hoped to refresh the enterprise by adding retro goods.

The store now features about 800 retro items alongside 8000 second-hand books.

Somewhere among that 8000 is a first edition copy of Charles Dickens’s ‘The Pickwick Papers’ and a few first editions of some of the James Bond novels.

Mr Rogers said the retro goods and second-hand books “complement each other”.

Original miner’s lamps from Wales and antique medical instruments are just some of the unique items Wairarapa shoppers can hope to spot in the shop.

“[There is] not another shop like this in Masterton,” Mr Rogers said.

“It is the only place of its kind.

“I can virtually guarantee that anyone who comes in will find something.”

The pair said they had been busy since opening in August and that they enjoyed helping shoppers expand their reading horizons.

“I thought I could sit down and read a bit more but I am busier now than I have ever been,” said Ms Cosgrove.

She said the store was “such a nostalgia trip” for customers.

People always spot stuff that their parents and grandparents used to have, she said.