"With the reopening this week, people have been so excited to be back that they're very considerate of how they treat us and how they treat each other," manager Kate Adams said.

"That's been really heartening. It kind of makes it feel like Christmas has come early because all of a sudden we've gone from doors shut, frazzled and stressed to being able to have these really pleasant interactions with people again, which you do tend to have leading up to Christmas."

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Amanda Isler co-owns the shop with her sister Deb Thompson, who had been running the venture as a home delivery or click-and-collect service.

Ms Isler welcomed the "good vibe" and was optimistic about the future, though said the next big hurdle was global export problems affecting their supply.

"People should be encouraged to go and shop now [for Christmas presents] because there's a lot of global problems with shipping and delivery and ... that's across the board in retail," she said.

"A stationary supplier was telling me yesterday ... their container used to cost $2500 and now it's gone up to $10,000. The shipping is so banked up everywhere all over the world."

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Ms Isler said some books on order had been delayed, while they would have limited stock of other titles where deliveries weren't expected until after the new year.

Overall the book seller is happy her business is still running after sales dropped between 30 and 50 per cent during the recent lockdown.

"It was twice as much work for half as many sales," Ms Isler said. "Now it's like catch-up, it will take us six months to a year to get financially back up to speed because we've lost a lot."

Some customers are still cautious about being in public spaces during a pandemic so the click-and-collect option will stay, along with home delivery for people who may be isolating.

From December, Collins will restart their event calendar with high profile speakers and celebrity authors part of their lineup of monthly events.

"This week has been fabulous," Ms Isler said. "There's no stress, people are just really compliant with all the checking in ... it's a great vibe, I think its just mass relief."

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