After 32 years in the book business, Book Warehouse in Vancouver is closing its doors.
“Our leases are expiring and so are we,” explained founder Sharman King.
“We’ve had a fantastic three decades of bookselling in Greater Vancouver. We’re leaving with no regrets and many, many happy memories of customers, colleagues, suppliers and books.
“Bookselling in Canada can be a difficult proposition at the best of times, and discount bookselling adds even more difficulty,” added King.
He said it was a difficult decision to close, but the time had come.
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King said that he has especially valued Book Warehouse’s participation in the cultural life of Vancouver.
“Because the owners were all musicians we naturally sought out partnerships with publishers, other booksellers and performing arts organizations,” he said. “We’ve had long relationships with Vancouver Opera, The Cultch, Bard on the Beach, Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Playhouse, MusicFest Vancouver, Vancouver Kids’ Festival, Vancouver Writers and Readers Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival and many, many more arts organizations.”
What started at a remainder bookstore at 632 West Broadway in 1980 eventually grew into four locations that prided itself on discounting every book by at least 20 per cent.
“We’ve had a lot of fun,” says King, “and we’ve sold well over ten million books, all at great prices. By any measure, that brought a lot of reading pleasure and a lot of savings for our customers.”
Book Warehouse will be selling all its stock and fixtures.
The closing sale began today and will continue for several weeks.
“All joking and business considerations aside, it’s been a great ride for these 32 years,” said King.
“That’s entirely thanks to the hundreds of dedicated staff and many thousands of customers we’ve had over the years, and that will be the memory we will all take away from our bookselling adventure.”
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