Russell Books
Russell Books is an independent bookstore in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.[1] A family-owned business still owned and operated by the children and grandchildren of its founder, it has been labelled as the largest used bookstore in Canada.[2]
Private | |
Industry | Books |
Founded | Montreal, Quebec (1962) |
Headquarters | 747 Fort Street Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3E9 |
Key people | Chad DePol, Diana DePol, Andrea Minter and Ronald DePol |
Number of employees | 60 |
Website | Official website |
History
Russell Books was started in 1962 by Reg Russell in Montreal.[3] Originally launched as The Book Nook, the store became Russell Books in 1983.[4]
In 1991, Reg helped open a Victoria branch with his daughter Diana and her husband Ron DePol.[5]
The Montreal store remained in operation until 1999, when its location was expropriated for the expansion of the Palais des congrès de Montréal; Reg Russell then launched the smaller Diamond Books store in another location, and operated it until selling it upon his retirement in 2004.[6] Upon his retirement, Russell's antiquarian book collection was shipped to the Victoria store, while most of the store's regular stock remained with its new owners.[6] A scene in the 1999 film The Bone Collector was shot in the Montreal store before its closure.[7]
In the mid-1990s, Russell Books was one of the first independent bookstores in the world to place its inventory on AbeBooks.[7]
In 2005, Diana's son Brandon and his wife Charlene helped start up another store, Books on View, as a division of Russell Books, in the Sayward Building at the corner of View and Douglas Streets.[5] The main store expanded its space several times, taking over the upstairs floor of an adjoining building in 2008[8] and taking over the neighbouring Fort Café in 2013.[9]
In 2019, the main store moved across the street to a larger location in a former Staples outlet, with 10,000 square feet on the main floor and 8,000 square feet below.[10] This move required employees to manually move over half a million books.[11] Because of the main store's expanded space, Books on View was concurrently shut down.[12]
Prior to the move, Russell Books claimed it was the largest used bookseller in Canada,[13] with their locations containing over 1 million volumes. They hoped the new location would allow them to increase their inventory to 1.25 million volumes.[10]
Guinness World Records
On November 14, 2019, as an event promoting their new location, the bookstore set a new world record for the number of stacked Guinness World Records books.[14]
Rankings
It has been rated as one of the best bookstores in Victoria, British Columbia in LSE Review of Books, published by London School of Economics.[15]
See also
References
- Matt Humphrey, "Page-turning turnover: Huge demand spurs Victoria book store to move to larger location". CBC News British Columbia, August 14, 2019.
- "Russell Books on Fort Street a family affair". Victoria News, January 2, 2008.
- Ian Mayer, "Bookstore fare includes cut-rate best-sellers and rare first editions". Montreal Gazette, July 13, 1985.
- A. Lawrence Healey, "His Montreal store held almost a square kilometre of used books: Dean of the city's English-language antiquarian booksellers believed in high volume and low prices". The Globe and Mail, May 30, 2007.
- Alan Hustak, "Montreal icon had Victoria connections". Victoria Times-Colonist, March 10, 2007.
- Pat Donnelly, "It's the end of an era for local bibliophiles". Montreal Gazette, August 21, 2004.
- Carla Wilson, "Russell Books a fixture in downtown Victoria". Vancouver Sun, March 22, 2006.
- Darron Kloster, "Canada's largest used-book seller expands Victoria shop; Russell Books downtown location adds 3,000 square feet of space". Vancouver Sun, October 3, 2008.
- Darron Kloster, "Russell Books expands again; Canada's biggest used bookstore stretches to 16,000 square feet". Victoria Times-Colonist, February 23, 2013.
- Wilson, Carla (June 7, 2019). "Russell Books to move, expand downtown". Victoria Times-Colonist. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
- Crescenzi, Nicole (December 12, 2019). "Victoria book store begins challenge of moving 500,000 books". Victoria News. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- Richard Watts, "Russell begins march of a million books". Victoria Times-Colonist, August 16, 2019.
- Kloster, Darron (February 23, 2013). "Victoria's Russell Books carves out success and expansion amid troubles of other retailers". Victoria Times-Colonist. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
- "Victoria bookshop lands in the record books". CTV News Vancouver Island. November 15, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
- Tiffany Chan (March 12, 2018). "The Best Bookshops in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada". LSE Review of Books. Retrieved December 12, 2019.