Village Squire, 1975-12, Page 5The Boole Shelf
A new
business
from old books
Bernard Chouinard was fed up with life in
Toronto. He wanted to get out to a smaller
centre where life was slower. The problem
was, how do you make a living once you leave
your job in the city.
For Bernie, the answer was in one of the
things he liked best about living in the city.
Much of his spare time in Toronto, he says,
was spent in the used book stores that crowd
Queen Street so when he finally decided to
get out of the city after 10 years of wanting to,
it seemed logical to go into the used book
business.
He chose Stratford after visiting the city
earlier and liking it. His bookstore, called The
Bookshelf, is designed primarily for the local
people. He discovered soon after becoming
interested in Stratford that there were several
outlets for new books but none for used
books. Early planning for the store was that it
would handle used paperbacks but he's found
over the time that people seem to be more
interested in hardcovers. The result is shelf
after shelf of hardcovers intermixed with a
smaller quantity of paperbacks.
The little store on Wellington Street
opened after the tourist season ended on
Sept. 23 with the official opening in
mid-October. But the work started long
before that first with the difficult task of
finding a suitable location (it took three
months) then with the job of building up the
stock.
About three months before the opening
Bernie placed an ad ill the Stratford paper
offering to buy used books. Within three
weeks, he says, the house was full of books.
The first seller was a little boy who arrived
on the doorstep with three boxes of
books...and a pocket calculator to make sure
he got a good deal.
His prices for buying, Bernie says, average
5,to 25 cents for paperbacks and 25 cents for
hardcovers. His selling price is usually less
than that recommended in catalogues for the
The Book Shelf, on Wellington Street in Stratford makes old books into a new business. used book business. Still, he says, he's been
VILLAGE SQUIRE/DECEMBER 1975, 3