About Gigglefit Grammar

Hi, I’m Darren. Gigglefit Grammar is a secondhand - or, if you prefer, pre-loved - bookstore in the heart of Wynnum Central. The business has been trading for around 35 years, and I’m only its third owner. It began life at Wynnum Plaza as Rainbow Books, run by an eccentric red-headed Scotsman, and flourished there until the shop eventually moved to its current location. Not long after, ex-journalist David Ross bought the business, renamed it Bayside Books (keeping the old rainbow logo), and ran it until his passing in 2018, when I bought the store from his wife, Wendy.

I like to say I was born here, even if that’s not quite true - I just can’t remember living anywhere else. I was born at the Royal Brisbane and moved to Bride Street in Wynnum when I was seven, back in 1975. My mother was fairly transient, so I grew up across six different rental homes around Wynnum and Manly, and went to school in Lota, Wynnum Central, Wynnum North and Manly. The one time I actually worked in Wynnum before opening the shop was ten years at the Wynnum Manly Leagues Club - and, as Murphy’s law would have it, now that I own a business here, I no longer live here. These days home is a quiet valley setting out at Mt Cotton.

What I love most about Wynnum is the people, the places, the sheer number of smiling faces - it’s home to plenty of people who’ve never actually lived here. For me it’s that old, comfortable chair I care about so much, or a song I loved as a child and half-forgot existed: a sense of security and warmth, a link to a past I still wish were present. If Wynnum were a person, she’d be a quirky, eccentric aunt you always love visiting - smelling of the seaside and sandalwood, baked biscuits and fresh frangipani, a little bit old-fashioned in exactly the way you need after the hustle of modern life. You can put the phone away and just relax, knowing everything will be alright.

Wynnum’s charity shops and thrift stores are locally, and rightly, famous, and I’ll happily lose an afternoon treasure hunting through them. For food: Lota Takeaway does the best hamburgers around, Mates Restaurant on Edith Street has fantastic lunchtime deals, Vietnam Alley on Bay Terrace serves up spectacular Asian cuisine, the Japanese-style beef curry at Bay Blends is worth crossing town for, and I’ve been a regular at Gum Sing Chinese on Tingal Road since they still had two stores in Wynnum back in the ’70s.

As Wynnum moves further into the 21st century, I’m looking forward to whatever comes next. There’s real opportunity for growth here - residential, commercial, industrial - and the town is a bit of a crossroads: does it lean into becoming a minor metropolitan hub, which the new cinema complex and the million-dollar renovation at the Wynnum Manly Leagues Club suggest is entirely possible? Or does it hold onto, and even deepen, the quaint village atmosphere that lets city-siders enjoy a sea change without driving for miles? Only time will tell - but either way, I’ll still be here, minding the shelves.

- Darren McGreevy

Come browse the shelves, see what’s on at the shop, or get in touch.