Hope for McNally Robinson
Imagine a bookstore, in a heritage building, that had three storeys of books to browse through. The shelves were laid out in small angled groups. Some were even arranged in a little nook, with chairs inside that you could relax on and browse through. There was even a restaurant on the top floor – a really authentically good restaurant – where you could peoplewatch out the window, or look the other way and enjoy the sight of people enjoying books. And sometimes there would be readings or workshops in this bookstore restaurant.
This bookstore is – was – McNally Robinson, Canada’s largest independent chain of bookstores, and I loved the Calgary location until it shut down, citing high costs of real estate and labour. I was even more sad when the company declared bankruptcy. I thought, for sure, Chapters had won.
But today, I read an article on the CBC website that said McNally Robinson has emerged from bankruptcy protection. Hooray! Good news! Hope!
I’m still mourning the loss of the Calgary location, however. There’s a SportChek in there now. Sigh.
Category: Fiction Writing/Books