PANDEMIC SUCCESS STORIES
Indie book stores turning the page
Hilary Atleo and her husband Cliff Atleo Jr. opened their Iron Dog Books in December of 2019, just a couple of months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
At first glance, this was not a great timing kind of a tale, but turn the page and the story quickly becomes about the power and necessity of the independent bookstore.
“We're really lucky that we are in the city and have the community that we have, so things are going really well. Has it been a real roller-coaster of a year, especially because we were only open a little under four months in the storefront when everything shut down, then yes,” says Hilary Atleo, who runs the east Vancouver store as well a book truck. “Vancouver is an incredible town for books and literature and the book scene and for book lovers and for writers. I feel really fortunate that we have our shop in this kind of a community.”
On Saturday, Iron Dog Books, which specializes in books on critical race studies and Indigenous literature, will be one of the many independent bookstores celebrating Canadian Independent Bookstore Day.
“Right now in this pandemic and this time it is an opportunity for us
to show how great Vancouver is as a book town,” says Atleo. “There is such an incredible diversity of independent book stores and the sorts of things we specialize in. So Canadian Independent Bookstore Day, I think, is really important as an idea. As an idea of how much book shops contribute to our communities and how much we are places of organization, of gathering and networking with each other, and of ideas.”
Canadian Independent Booksellers Association (CIBA) board director Cathy Jesson, who owns Black Bond Books in Surrey, echoes Atleo's description of the local bookstore as a place to meet,
greet and share ideas. “Beyond their support of the Canadian literary ecosystem, independent bookstores are pillars of their local communities,” Jesson said in an email. “They offer inclusive space for important dialogue and cross-generational community engagement. And, when this is over, they will be a place for coming together once more.”
When COVID forced the in-store shopping and browsing to stop, store owners had to find new ways to connect with the public.
Indie stores, of which there are about 100 that sell new books in B.C., built websites, improved websites, offered curbside delivery and home delivery, plus some hosted online events.
“As a bookseller myself, we are celebrating 58 years in business this fall,” said Jesson. “I thought I had seen everything in the last 40 years I have been involved, but this past year has not been for the faint of heart.”
So to acknowledge the pure guts of those in the indie book business, make a note to check out the local independent book scene in your area on April 24.
“Coast to coast, the annual day is an opportunity to celebrate how important books are in our lives and, more and more, a reminder to encourage people to shop local when it comes to books, ” said Jesson. “Everyone rallying together on one day is a powerful reminder to carry the support through the rest of the year.”
Also on that day you will find some special promotions. For example, here in Vancouver, Iron Dog Books has teamed up with Massey Books, The Paperhound, Book Warehouse Broadway, Book Warehouse Main, Hager Books, Banyon Books, Upstart & Crow and Kidsbooks to offer cool giftpack promotions.
Every shop has a prize pack worth more than $350 to give away. The prize packs contain gift cards to the other participating stores, puzzles, mugs, bookmarks and other biblio paraphernalia. The CIBA will also be hosting a contest. For every book purchased (online or in-store) at any independent bookstore in the country on April 24 or 25, customers will receive one entry toward winning prizes donated by various publishers.
“What I love about Independent Bookstore Day is it isn't about `I'm an independent store, you should shop with me,'” says Atleo. “It's about saying independent bookstores are a part of the community. Part of the heart of our communities and we should support all of them.”
Rallying together on one day is a powerful reminder to carry the support through the rest of the year.