Books Kinokuniya Chatswood

Books Kinokuniya’s Chatswood store marks a new chapter in its Australian retail journey, reframing the neighbourhood bookstore as a calm, intuitive destination within a busy shopping mall environment.

Located in Westfield Chatswood, the store is conceived for readers of all ages as a place to linger rather than transact: an everyday cultural environment shaped around books.

Designed by Foolscap around the Japanese bento box as a spatial concept, the store structures abundance into clear, navigable moments that support browsing, discovery and ease. This framework — born from extensive research into Books Kinokuniya's brand and audience — informs every aspect of the space.

“We treated the bento box as a spatial idea, zoning the store into compartments, then subdividing those into shelving, display and circulation. It creates a calm, intuitive way to move through the space,” says Adèle Winteridge, Director, Foolscap. The result is a layered environment where spatial scale shifts gently between generous zones and more intimate encounters with books.

The façade establishes a clear departure from typical mall retail. Instead of a single glazed frontage, a custom timber system of modular ‘kit-of-parts’ elements forms a crafted threshold. Made from sustainably fabricated hardwood using reclaimed timber, it introduces warmth and tactility from the outset, shifting the experience from mall to bookstore.

Inside, timber floors and bespoke shelving extend the material continuity. Recycled timber acoustic panels soften sound and contribute to a library-like calm, while Books Kinokuniya’s signature blue is layered with a restrained Australian material palette to balance warmth and clarity.

Bespoke shelving and signage systems are designed for flexibility, allowing components to clip, slot and shift over time without visual clutter. A family of modular objects, including display tables, carts, book blocks and stackable ‘pagodas’, supports changing retail needs, while integrated steps in the children’s section improve access and independence.

The store is organised as a landscape of ‘islands’, encouraging movement and discovery rather than linear browsing. Above, a sculptural ceiling canopy extends the bento logic into the ceiling plane, rising and lowering to create subtle zoning. Lowered sections are lined with acoustic timber panels, softening both light and sound and creating moments of intimacy within the larger volume.

Books Kinokuniya Chatswood establishes a renewed expression of the brand in Australia, prioritising atmosphere, comfort and longevity over immediacy. As Satoshi Yada, Managing Director of Kinokuniya Book Stores of Australia, notes, the store creates a welcoming environment for both customers and staff, supporting a slower, more engaged way of experiencing books.

This project is the first in a series of Books Kinokuniya stores by Foolscap, forming a design system for future Australian locations.