About Robinsons
Our Rich History
Our history dates back to 1963 when Philip and Moira Robinson opened Robinsons Bookshop in the main Frankston shopping precinct known as ‘Frankston’s Central Carpark’. At that time the Frankston Library was yet to be established and it was a rare treat to find a bookshop anywhere. This makes Robinson’s the Oldest General Independent Bookshop in Victoria. We look forward to our 50 year birthday celebrations next year!
In 1992, new owners Terry and Monica Perry moved the store from its original location in Frankston’s ‘Central Carpark’ to its current location in Frankston’s Station Street Mall. The business flourished in their hands and they developed a very strong loyalty program rewarding members for their long standing support of the business.
Susanne Horman took on ownership of Robinson’s Bookshop in 2007 and has modernized systems, processes and equipment to keep up with our fast paced media rich society. Robinson’s Bookshop is a well trusted family run business that has grown to become one of the largest independent bookstores in Victoria.
The introduction of modern inventory management systems meant that Robinsons was able to launch a ‘live inventory’ webstore in 2011. Now you can browse our shelves from anywhere!
2012 marks many new beginnings for Robinsons. Firstly, the launch of e-books on our website in February is a major leap forward for an independent bookshop. It is something we have been working on for almost 12 months and will continue to refine and improve. Robinson's Bookshop is committed to offering its customers any book they want, in any format they want. Our eBook store, powered by innovative Australian company ReadCloud, offers over 25,000 eBooks from local publishers, with more being added daily.
March 2012 marks the opening of the second Robinsons store – in Greensborough Plaza and now we are proud to announce a third store opening at Chadstone Shopping Centre in October 2012. Our rich history and culture deserves to be shared – and we aim to embrace these new communities in the same way as we do in Frankston. We genuinely have the customer at heart and everything we do aims to demonstrate this. Robinsons is housed in traditional family values and exceptional service. It is warm and genuine, reliable and caring.
We have lived and breathed our community and the issues that face it for almost 50 years now. We are here to stay, thrive and help make it a great place for all with whom we come in contact.
Our Mission Statement
To be the community’s choice for access to information, recreation and learning for life.
To share passion and knowledge of books to create lifelong readers.
To be part of our greater community in support of education and the greater good.
To be a place of good company, great reads, and engaging conversations for all ages.
Community Involvement
Robinsons has long supported literacy projects in the Mornington Peninsula Region including donating a recent $1000 prize and judging support for a short story competition as part of the Mornington Peninsula Writers Festival. Additionally, Robinsons selects 3-5 schools/kindergartens or other institutions applying for donations and awards books/vouchers or monetary contributions each month. There are too many of these to mention individually.
Susanne Horman recently attended The Municipal Literacy Partnership Conference held at the Frankston Arts Centre as a “Literacy Champion” The conference aimed to co-ordinate the collective commitment, energy and passion of interested individuals in the region to address the issue of improving the literacy levels of our community's children and young people. The outcomes from the conference are still being collated for action.
It became very clear that Robinsons is a hub in the minds of the community when during the Black Saturday bushfires the community all rallied and chose Robinson’s as the local focal point. Without instigating anything, the community immediately gathered at Robinsons and began organising a relief effort for the bushfire victims. The community used Robinsons as a base and as a collection point for books to donate to the Red Cross. The community was then very excited when we displayed photographs on our front door of the donations being unloaded at the Red Cross and bushfire victims making selections from the items donated by Robinsons customers.
Robinsons prides itself on finding numerous ways to gather the community together around the theme of literacy. We have a long history of co-ordinating high profile author events and launch parties. In 2009 Robinson’s Bookshop was nominated and shortlisted for the first time at the Australian Book Industry Awards in the category of Best Marketing Campaign by an Independent Bookshop. We have also been nominated for the 2010 Awards for our inspiring event involving the Navy Community centered around the “Search for Sydney” title launched in 2009. In 2011 we held our first annual National Bookshop Day, featuring 8 guest authors, a town crier, CES volunteers BBQ, poetry readings, local dance troupes and more. It was a great day for our customers to celebrate having a bookshop in their community. We look forward to National Bookshop Day again in 2012.