About Canty's Bookshop

A family bookshop since 1992

Canty's Bookshop opened in Fyshwick in 1992, started by the parents of its current co-owner, Luke Canty. Luke and his wife Laura took over the business roughly 19 years ago — Laura brought her own background in the book industry, and Luke has described the timing simply: "My parents are getting older, and it's one thing that we're both good at."

Surviving the digital shift

In the same 2026 interview, Luke described a serious downturn between 2009 and 2013, as e-readers and smartphones cut into demand for reference books — people, he said, "didn't need dictionaries, atlases or cookbooks as much as they used to." He recalled a local court that once held four bookshops, and described Canty's and Booklore as pretty much the two remaining generalist secondhand bookshops in Canberra today.

Luke has said that what draws readers to secondhand and vintage editions is something modern formats can't offer:

A shop people come back to

Luke also talked about customers spanning generations — some who first met at the shop in the early 90s and now bring their own grown children in — and recalls that customers have even had first dates at Canty's. As reported in the same profile, Canty's Facebook page has grown to more than 6,000 followers, with a 98% recommendation rate.