The T.S. Bookshop in Melbourne is the best known specialist esoteric bookshop in the Southern Hemisphere. The T.S. Library has a unique collection including sole copies of some rare esoteric titles. They share a 100-year history but are under threat of closure by stealth.

The Board of Melbourne Theosophical Society laid off its entire staff on Friday 12 August, under the guise of a "merger" between the bookshop and library. Their actions will end the bookshop as we know it and put the library collection in jeopardy.

Staff were offered new "jobs" as gophers for directors, cleaning up after events and operating the till in a new "gift shop". Members of the society were not consulted before staff were laid off. Minutes of decisions were not published.

With no understanding that bookshops and libraries are distinct operations, and an uneducated belief that bookshops have no place in the 21st Century, the decision was based on the advice of a consultant with no retail and library experience.

Last year during lockdown the bookshop was relocated to Flinders Lane after 40 years in Russell Street. It has a growing audience of new and old customers but needs time to find its feet.

We need your voice to demand transparency and accountability from the Board, reinstatement or compensation for staff, and an assurance this Melbourne icon will continue to serve current and future generations.

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