TURNING THE PAGE
B.C.’S independent bookstores writing a new chapter
It didn’t take long for the door to be slammed shut on normalcy once COVID-19 took hold four months ago.
One of the ‘normal life’ things that got shelved was the joyful ritual of a good browse through a well-stocked independent bookstore. Thankfully, the independent bookstores — those 100-plus that sell new books in B.C. — were not willing to just go dark.
Especially not when it had become so clear that books would be an obvious balm for these burdensome times.
Store websites were whipped into tip-top shape and curbside and home deliveries were offered. Once closed completely, B.C. bookstores are open again — but things have changed a lot.
“Life in the bookstore is not the same. We see our bookstores as third places where people can gather informally outside of work or home, exchange ideas and relax,” said Evelyn Gillespie of Courtenay’s Laughing Oyster Book Shop. “That’s not the environment we can have now.
“It is great that people can now come in and browse our shelves, but nobody wants to stay long. And with limited capacity we don’t want them to linger, either. That is probably the greatest difference we are all experiencing now — we are missing the joyful engagement with our customers.”
At Massy Books in the Chinatown neighbourhood of Vancouver, the grip of the pandemic was felt earlier than other places.
“There was and still is racism around COVID and a lot of businesses in Chinatown. During February and into March, we saw a massive decrease in business,” said Patricia Massy, the owner of the two-year-old store.
Massy decided then and there to establish a free delivery service, and as soon as she posted the plan on social media, people were on-board. During the month of June her store had more online sales then it had all of last year. She has also added three new staff members.
“People really wanted to show their support for independent bookstores and wanted to see them survive,” said Massy.
Over in Victoria at arguably the country’s most famous independent bookstore, Munro’s Books, the novel coronavirus pandemic reaction was swift.
With the doors shut in early March, staff switched gears and got busy preparing the 62-yearold shop for the future focusing on direct and delivery sales.
“After the first couple of terrible weeks we were actually quite pleasantly surprised. We did a lot of online business,” said managing partner Jessica Walker. “Our online orders, I don’t even know what the math is, are like 10 times what they were before.”
For Alicia Neill, general manager of Mosaic Books in Kelowna, the shutdown reminded her again that the bookstore, which was first opened in 1968, is much more than a business. It is a part of the landscape of the Okanagan city.
“I feel like our community is really good about supporting us and I think we are just a good institution for the downtown,” said Neill. “We just seem to get stronger and stronger, which is nice to see especially in the age of Amazon.”
Speaking of that online behemoth that got its start in book sales, Neill says she’s heard from people during these past months that helping to pad billionaire Jeff Bezos’s bottom line wasn’t something they were going to do.
“During all the COVID stuff a lot of people were saying: ‘You know, I’m not really going to shop at Amazon anymore.’ They actually preferred shopping local,” said Neill, whose parents Michael and
Michelle bought Mosaic in 1994.
That proof was in the pudding as Mosaic’s online numbers, like everyone else’s who improved their website game, went up significantly. In the same period last year (March to end of July) Mosaic did around 800 online orders. This year, the number is sitting at around 6,000.
The Neills have a pretty good handle on all things related to online sales as they also run Bookmanager.com, a software company that helps independent bookstores operate. Michael Neill said when the pandemic hit they were slammed with people wanting to improve their websites.
“It was a really interesting time back in March. The 15th, when this broke open and the stores were closing down like crazy, we just got inundated with phone calls at the office: ‘How do I make my website work?’
“They all had websites for years but they were just a kind of little background thing that didn’t really do anything,” said Neill, whose company has 95 active accounts with B.C. independent bookstores.
Michael Neill said online sales have jumped for everyone. Of the 285 stores Bookmanger.com works with in Canada, Neill said the jump was huge. In April 2019, the collective online sales was $8,000. This year it was $104,000.
Browsing is the bedrock of the independent bookstore’s appeal. So, when the doors were shut the question of how to help those who like to sniff around the shelves became front and centre.
Neill and her staff set out to curate various lists — staff picks, bestsellers and topical issues — for the online shoppers. “We wanted to make it so they didn’t have to drill down so far,” said Neill.
Early in the pandemic, books on baking, gardening and crafts for kids were in demand. Then George Floyd was murdered, America erupted and the calls to support Black Lives Matter spread around the globe. With it spread the desire to read works written by BIPOC writers and books that addressed social issues.
“With the murder of George Floyd (May 25 in Minneapolis) we’ve seen a massive increase in books on anti-racism, books by black authors, books by Indigenous authors, and there was a real call to support Indigenous- and Black-owned businesses. We’re 100 per cent Indigenous owned and operated, and so we saw a lot of orders during that time and it’s been consistent since March,” said Massy, who is Cree from the Kelly Lake Nation.
“We’ve always prioritized BIPOC and LGBTQ voices, so we had the stock,” added Massy. “It’s great and wonderful to see. I am having deeper conversations with customers about those issues. I am learning so much more myself through this entire process as well.”
Walker and Neill also reported big upticks in requests for books related to Black Lives Matter issues, books by First Nation authors and books on stress, mental health, anxiety and meditation.
Looking ahead, there are still many challenges, but the bookstore operators Postmedia spoke with are remaining cautiously optimistic and are planning to make some of their COVID-19 “adjustments” permanent parts of their business when and if things return to “normal.”
“I think one thing that will stay in store is the curbside pickup. It is something people are using more often,” said Neill.
Vibrant social media engagement and increased online events are also going to be focused on going forward. While some success has been experienced, it’s survival success. What lies in the future has yet to be written.
“I feel like it is not over yet,” said Walker about the impact of COVID-19. “For us not having the cruise ships in Victoria is a huge, huge impact. In July and August we would have had 50 cruise ships a month. All of that is gone.
“We’re being very cautious and so far thankfully we’ve been really encouraged with what we are selling, but it is going to be a very different year,” added Walker. “I think there is no avoiding the reality of that.”
In the end there is one big consensus, though, that books will survive. “Books have an incredible ability to heal and connect people and take you to places you can’t necessarily go to at this time especially,” said Massy. “Books can be a refuge. They can do so many things.
“One of the greatest joys I get at work is listening to people tell me those stories and tell me about books that have affected them.”
I feel like our community is really good about supporting us and I think we are just a good institution for the downtown.