Successful New Zealand artist Richard Ponder took over Rona Gallery in 1999. Richard quickly stamped his own style onto the small gallery, insisting on world quality art - and with his many established connections managed to do exactly that. Meanwhile his wife Joanna decided she would stock a few quality children’s picture books, to indulge her own passion of books and reading. The types of books that are much loved and treasured through generations of readers and they became so popular they began overrunning the store. Adult books were added. More and more, until at last another shop was bought, that shop was Rona Books.

After a couple of years working three doors down from each other as Rona Books and Rona Fine Art Richard and Joanna felt they really wanted a single premises to make their life easier. They looked to merge their two stores into one, and when the opportunity came up there was only one catch. The previous owner of the premises contained the postshop and Kiwibank. Reluctantly they decided to keep it on as a service for the local community; it would, after all only take up a tiny portion of their building.

In 2009 a Kiwibank/New Zealand Post decision was made to remove many of the smaller Kiwibank franchises from up and down New Zealand. This decision affected Rona Gallery and although they were very disappointed for those people in the community using Kiwibank, they made the most of things by opening up the post counter to be a more friendly and welcoming place while continuing to provide as many services as possible.

Through all this Richard Ponder continues to develop one of the most stunning galleries in New Zealand. We are often complimented on the look and feel of the gallery and bookshop, with customers often proclaiming that we are the best in the country. Many customers are astounded that the artist himself is in residence and they are talking to the man himself! But Richard and Joanna never let these compliments go to their heads, always looking for new ways to improve the gallery. Incorporating such products as Jewellery, Lynden Over’s art glass, and more recently developing the side area near the post shop, revolutionising it with new [art supplies] aimed for both students of art and professional artists.

History of Rona Books

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Rona Books was born after Literary Specialist Joanna Ponder created a haven for the books she loved within Rona Gallery in Eastbourne. When the books started to take over the gallery, it became obvious that something needed to be done.
Joanna couldn’t bear to lose her books, and Richard couldn’t bear to lose his gallery space; he’d worked hard to show the best artists in the best surroundings. So they did the only thing they could do – they rented a second shop. It was only a few doors down from the original art gallery, and it soon filled up with books. Not just the beautiful children’s books, but klutz and novels of every type from fantasy to literary, art to science, fiction to non fiction. Too busy to spend time together, it quickly became obvious they needed something else. A new approach. So when the hardware store across the road became available, they jumped on the opportunity to expand their business, and to spend less time apart.

Converting the building into the gallery space it is today, as is always the case, took more money and time than either Richard or Joanna expected. With hours to go before the opening a good number of the generous people of Eastbourne took up
paintbrushes to help meet their deadline on the 17th of June 2006. The opening. People raced to and fro with trolleys of books and art and fittings, but with a little help from family and friends everything was ready in time. And it was all worth it in the end. Rona Gallery is a spacious area where lovers of art, and the whole shop has a warm friendly atmosphere, and of course there is a large range of fantastic books. We often have customers compliment us that we have the best bookshop in the country.