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Profile on Collected Works, Bookstore and Coffeebar, with a few questions
Submitted by rob mclennan on May 1, 2012 - 11:27am
Given that most independent booksellers in Canada are struggling, or even closing, it would seem as though Collected Works Bookstore and Coffeebar, nestled in the Parkdale neighbourhood, slightly west of Ottawa’s downtown core, has done the impossible, not only thriving, but doubling the size of their store over the past two years. One of a handful of the city’s independent booksellers, along with Old Ottawa South’s mother tongue books, Centretown’s After Stonewall Books and The Glebe’s Octopus Books, Collected Works opened to the public on May 5, 1997 on Wellington Street West, stimulated by the lack of other bookstores in the immediate area, as well as growth in Hintonberg and Westboro neighbourhoods. Heavily involved in their local community, the store features author readings and a large selection of children’s books, and it hosts book clubs and a series of writing workshops facilitated by a number of Ottawa writers over the years, including Michelle Desberats, Richard Taylor, Stephanie Bolster, rob mclennan and the late Diana Brebner. In May 2011, the website Apartment613 featured Collected Works in their list of “Best independent, non-used bookstores in town” and described them as
On January 4, 2012, the Simon & Schuster Canada website published a feature on the bookstore and wrote that
In November, 2011, the store launched a two-month “Turn a Page” gift-card program to help fund their in-store renovations, allowing their local community to assist them in construction, and in return, customers who purchased gift-cards in denominations of $100, $250, $500, $750 or $1,000 received an additional 10 to 50 percent of the card’s value to use on bookstore purchases. One of the store’s owners, Christopher Smith, described their renovations to the Quill & Quire for a November 28, 2011 article. The renovations include “new shelving, lighting, flooring, a kids’ area, an updated facade, and an expanded coffee bar.” Collected Works is owned and operated by Smith and his partner, award-winning poet Craig Poile, Smith was good enough to take time out of their ongoing renovations to answer a couple of questions. Q: How did the bookstore first get started, and what were the challenges? Arguably, given the state of bookstores over the past 20 years, why did you decide to open a store at all? A: The idea for the store started in the mid-90s. I had been working for two different family owned bookstores and in both cases had risen as high as I could go without actually owning the store. The opportunity did arise to buy one of the stores, but it became clear that neither Craig nor I had the financial resources to make that happen. It was then that we decided to start saving and planning in order make our own store a reality. Craig and I spent two years saving, planning and looking for the right location. Everything came together in early 1997, and in May of that year we opened our doors. We did this just as Chapters was rolling out its new stores in the Ottawa area and several long-standing indies were closing their doors. This turned out to be a good thing for us. We garnered a lot of media attention at the time for bucking the trend and those indies closing down graciously helped us by referring their best customers to us to ensure they were looked after properly. Why? Because an independent, locally owned book store can do several things a corporate behemoth cannot:
Q: What do you think you’ve learned over the years that you might not have been expecting? A: We’ve learned just how important we are to the people in our community. This truly came home to us when our first daughter Lily was born. Every day our regulars dropped by with a gift for us or the baby. We suddenly realized that we weren’t just a store, we were a part of the neighbourhood and our community; that our customers were our friends and our neighbours. This more than anything makes a difference. When you can get book (or anything for that matter) just about anywhere what truly makes the difference the experience you have in the process. Our store is not just about retail. It’s about creating a space where our community – neighbours, friends, writers, readers — can come together. Q: Last year you increased the size of your store. How do you think you’ve managed to thrive, when so many other bookstores have struggled? Only recently, there have been the struggles with Nicholas Hoare closing stores in Ottawa and Montreal, as well as one less Book City in Toronto. A: By doing all things we do for our community and by being creative, we are constantly seeking to recreate our business in ways that make us relevant . That said, every day brings new challenges. The fun comes from seeking to align our core goal of matching writer to reader is such a way that we meet those challenges.
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