Our Story

Hi, I’m Wayne, and together with my wife Rene, we started Heart Preloved Books during the lockdown of 2020 from the seaside town of Muizenberg in Cape Town — a season that changed life for so many families, including ours.

When the lockdown began, all of our income streams came to an abrupt stop. Rene had been running a trusted babysitting service to five-star hotels in Cape Town for many years, and with tourism shutting down overnight, the hotels closed their doors to guests.

At the time, Rene had a collection of children’s books and toys used in her babysitting service. We decided to sell them online through Instagram — and what started as a small idea quickly grew into something much bigger.

With my love for technology and social media, I focused on growing our online presence while the hotel industry slowly recovered. Very soon, I realised there was a huge demand for quality preloved children’s books, especially for families living in small towns, rural areas, and farming communities where bookshops and charity shops are often difficult to access. I also discovered just how expensive new children’s books could be for many parents.

That’s when a new passion was born.

I began spending countless hours searching through charity shops, markets, boot sales, and second-hand stores looking for beautiful children’s books that deserved a second life in a new home. Over time, our Instagram community grew rapidly, and so did our collection — eventually becoming a home bookshop with more than 4,000 preloved children’s books.

After five years of incredible support, repeat customers, and many requests from our community, we officially launched our website in early 2026. Our goal was to make shopping easier, more organised, and more convenient for busy parents while still keeping the warmth and personal touch that Heart Preloved Books is known for.

Today, Heart Preloved Books is more than just a bookshop. It’s a family-run business built on resilience, creativity, and a genuine love for helping children discover the joy of reading.

Alongside our books, I also run a small laser cutting business, and we are excited to begin introducing educational products, creative activities, and selected toys to our range in the near future.

With many books constantly moving through our shelves and new stock being added every week, storage space is always limited. Because of this, we regularly thin out parts of our collection and donate books to less fortunate schools and communities.

If you have children’s books at home that are no longer being used, we would love to encourage you to consider donating them to a school, charity, or child in your area. A single book can make a lifelong difference in a child’s world.

Why We Do What We Do

We believe every child deserves access to wonderful books, regardless of where they live or what their budget may be. Reading opens the imagination, strengthens learning, and creates lifelong memories between parents and children.

Our hope is that every parcel we send brings a little excitement, nostalgia, and joy into your home.

Thank you for supporting our small family business and for helping us place more books into the hands of children across South Africa.