Dymocks SF Store
Dymocks SF Store was a specialist sf bookstore within Dymocks main three-floor Sydney store in George St in downtown Sydney, operational between 1995 and approx. 2000.
The Lower Ground Floor at Dymocks had been occupied by a Dymocks franchise store known as Discovery and Learning, which included Childrens Books and Sheet Music. When that franchise had to reduce to occupying half the space on the Lower Ground Floor, Dymocks decided to expand their existing SF section into a specialist store which occupied the other half of the Lower Ground Floor.
Leigh Blackmore was offered the job in 1995 of setting up the new specialist store from scratch. He and his then-wife Glayne-Louise Blackmore were employed to do so, and spent six weeks sourcing stock, including a massive range of sf, fantasy and horror books, videos (later DVDs), collectables and material from overseas, as well as locally published sf/fantasy/horror material.
Over the course of Blackmore's management, Dymocks SF Store became a popular destination for Sydney sf fans and an alternative to Galaxy Bookshop. Amongst the many authors hosted at in-store readings and signings were: Storm Constantine, Harlan Ellison, Terry Dowling, Richard Harland, Terry Pratchett, Bill Congreve, Rob Hood, Kyla Ward, Cat Sparks, Simon Brown and Douglas Adams.
Under the management of the Blackmores, Dymocks SF store issued the regular newsletter Mythopoeia" to promote and review new releases. This was primarily edited by Glayne Louise Blackmore.
Blackmore graduated to managing the entire Lower Ground Floor including the SF Store and Discovery and Learning, which he ran for two years. He left Dymocks SF in 2000 to manage the Dymocks Neutral Bay franchise store. Dymocks George St later closed their SF specialist store and reduced their stock of sf and fantasy back to a few shelves of books located on the Ground Floor.
| Store | 1995—2000 |
| This is an SF bookstore page. When a floreat "fl." is listed it records the dates for which we have evidence and may not be the store's entire span. |
