Salvation Army Family Store — Halswell Junction — Hornby South
A op shop with used books in Hornby South, Christchurch. Part of the Greater Christchurch secondhand bookshops directory — see also our NZ used-book price guide.
About
The Salvation Army Family Store on Halswell Junction Road sits on the corner of Columbia Avenue in Hornby South, on Christchurch’s south-western edge. Like every Family Store it sells donated clothing, furniture and household goods to fund The Salvation Army’s community work — but it is also one of the better-organised places in the Hornby–Halswell area to pick up cheap secondhand books.
The book section is small but tidy and easy to browse: an aisle of wooden bookcases with general fiction and non-fiction, and a separate children’s bookcase with labelled shelves for kids’ chapter books, hardbacks, paperbacks and baby books. Cookbooks have their own shelf. On our visit most books were priced between $3 and $6, with the bulk around $5, and there was a small, higher-priced selection of rare and signed books at $30–$40 — worth a look if you collect. Magazines were 3 for $1, and the store also has records, DVDs and a puzzles and games section.
If you are book-hunting west of the city, pair it with the Hornby Family Store, Red Cross and SPCA shops at Amyes Road, and Hornby Books on Main South Road.
Price tip: Books mostly $3–$6 on our visit, most around $5; rare and signed books $30–$40; magazines 3 for $1.
What you’ll find
A compact, well-sorted used-book section: fiction and non-fiction bookcases, a labelled kids’ bookcase (chapter books, hardbacks, paperbacks, baby books), a cookbook shelf and a small shelf of rare and signed books ($30–$40). Most books $3–$6, typically about $5. Plus magazines (3 for $1), records, DVDs, and jigsaw puzzles and board games.
Practical info
- Address
- 1 Columbia Avenue, Hornby South, Christchurch 8042
- Hours
- Mon–Sat 9am–4:30pm; Sun closed
- Phone
- 03 344 2530
- Website
- www.salvationarmy.org.nz/location/hornby-south-family-store
On the corner of Halswell Junction Road and Columbia Avenue, with parking out front. The Salvation Army’s own site calls it the Halswell Family Store; the shopfront sign gives 03 344 2530 for free pick-up of donated goods. Door hours on our visit: Monday to Saturday 9am–4:30pm, closed Sunday.