WE Are Books is a second-hand bookshop in the front room of a restored villa at 59 Gloucester Street, in the Christchurch central city. Its distinctive feature is that every dollar spent goes to the Canterbury Workers Educational Association (CWEA), which has run adult education in Christchurch for more than 100 years. Most of the stock is donated, and the shop is run by volunteers.
The shop holds more than a thousand good-quality books across a wide range. Its shelves cover New Zealand titles, politics, science, history, cookery, self-help, gardening, philosophy, arts and crafts, and fiction in several sections, including crime, classics, science fiction and fantasy, young adult and graphic novels. The kids' area is cosy, and children are welcome to sit, read and play while parents browse.
The shop accepts donations of books in good condition, and larger collections can be collected by arrangement. Books that do not suit the shop go to other outlets, such as occasional markets. Open Locally lists four other bookshops within one kilometre, including Scorpio Books and Piccadilly Bookshop, and the nearest chain, Whitcoulls Merivale, is 0.4 km away and rated 4.2 from 34 reviews.