You’ve sorted the sofa, styled the coffee table and finally got the bookshelf looking less storage unit, more considered vignette. But good design doesn’t stop at the grown-up spaces. Kids’ rooms deserve some attention too, which makes Book Hero’s latest move rather well timed.
Since launching in October 2024, Kiwi-owned Book Hero has made a name for itself by taking some of the friction out of buying books online, or for those that just can’t face a Westfield. Big range, competitive pricing, local stock and overnight nationwide delivery that arrives almost before you’ve clicked ‘Buy now’. Simple yet effective.
More than 100,000 New Zealanders have now shopped with the retailer, buying over 345,000 books in less than two years. And while novels and new releases might keep the bedside table sorted, Book Hero has also become a useful hunting ground for the books that actually earn their place on display.
Think oversized architecture titles, glossy fashion tomes, cookbooks too good-looking to hide in a cupboard and children’s books that bring a bit of colour to a shelf or bedside table.
Now the team is taking that same formula beyond books with the launch of Toy Hero, a dedicated online store for toys, puzzles and games.
The move came after Book Hero started quietly adding puzzles, games and book-adjacent toys to its existing range. Customers responded quickly, with the category growing to around 20% of total sales so rather than keep squeezing toys into Book Hero, the team decided they deserved their own home.
Toy Hero launched this month with around 20,000 products from brands including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Bluey, Hape, Ravensburger, Paw Patrol, Wasgij and Tonies, with thousands more on the way.
It makes particular sense as kids’ rooms have become more considered spaces in their own right. The best ones still feel playful, but the days of every toy needing to be hidden from view are largely gone. The prized possession toys of young ones, stacks of picture books, Toniebox or well-designed puzzles can easily become part of the room.
And crucially, both Hero businesses are built around convenience. They’re New Zealand owned, stock products locally and offer overnight nationwide delivery, which is handy when the birthday present has somehow become an urgent problem.
Two Heroes. Plenty of ways to finish a room.
