Bookstore closure inspires two new online retailers
When Hunter Street Books closed, it inspired others to take up the literary torch and open their own virtual storefronts
When Hunter Street Books closed in Peterborough, two people separate from each other felt motivated to try and fill the demand left by the closure.
Sarah Cullingham of Rocket-Free Books and Andrew Fitzpatrick of Take Cover Books both opened bookstores following the closure of the popular downtown book nook.
But both are entirely online, with curated collections available on delivery, as opposed to brick-andmortar storefronts.
“That seemed like a service I wanted to be able to provide,” said Cullingham, giving customers smaller, local options “as opposed to big retailers like Chapters or Indigo.”
Small-scale options provide a personal touch big-box retailers can’t, Fitzgerald said, such as how he delivers books directly to his customers’ doors on his bicycle.
In 2020, one of downtown Peterborough’s most popular destinations for book lovers, Hunter Street Books, closed its doors and moved to become an online business. By December 2021, owner Michelle Berry also shut down the online store to focus on her writing career.
Cullingham says she used to work there before it closed, but when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, she found herself unemployed. When Berry’s online store closed, Cullingham says she wanted to move into that space and ensure the people of Peterborough still had a local option.
“I am a fairly small-scale operation, and that is fine by me,” Cullingham said.
Cullingham describes RocketFree Books as an “unabashedly small-time book retailer” with a collection that “draws from (mostly) small, independent and radical presses.”
Her selection is “curated around (her) own interests” including books by Indigenous authors, or covering topics like social justice, politics, gender or queer theory or disability justice.
Likewise, Fitzpatrick offers items at Take Cover Books that come from his own tastes, with the goal of ensuring “books are for everyone.”
Some of the things he has in his collection include more “quirky” kids books that are welcoming and inclusive, as well as body and sex positive.
He also hosts a large selection of graphic novels, including one of his more recent favourites, “Pizza Punks,” a book about punks obsessed with pizza and each page is dyed orange like cheddar cheese.
Take Cover went online on Sept. 5, and the reception has already been “extremely positive … the community in this town has been really supportive,” Fitzpatrick said.
Like Cullingham, Fitzpatrick said he was also inspired to fill a void after Hunter Street Books closed, but his collection is taking a different direction.
“I believe local independent bookstores reflect their community so much more than big-box stores,” Fitzpatrick said.
And while the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed many peoples’ lives, Fitzpatrick said Take Cover probably wouldn’t have happened without it. Small businesses and customers just didn’t embrace online retail the way they do now.
“I wouldn’t have thought of opening an online storefront without a boost in that format,” he said, adding, “the community really understands that format.”
With that said, books are a physical experience. The industry, including suppliers, usually wants people to have physical stores.
“Bookstore culture demands that,” Fitzpatrick said. “The goal for us would be to definitely move into a physical store.”
For Rocket-Free Books, Cullingham said she wouldn’t mind collaborating with other book dealers to land in a storefront, too.
Online businesses have fewer barriers, usually costing less and with lower overhead expenses like renting a storefront, she notes. “It makes it a pretty easy point of entry,” she said.
And while she says she’s content keeping her operation small for now, she still wants to see a storefront house her collection eventually.
“That would be more of a mid-tolong-range plan,” she said.
Online businesses have fewer barriers, usually costing less and with lower overhead expenses like renting a storefront, Sarah Cullingham of Rocket-Free Books notes