Bleak News for Book Lovers

The news that Duthie Book Stores will finally and, one fears, permanently pack up all their cares and woes after more than fifty years of extraordinary devotion to the trade is a sad blow for Vancouver book lovers, right up there with having your library card shredded.

At one time, Vancouver could boast that it had more book stores per capita than any other Canadian city. Those days are long gone, and one thinks of the many stores that have vanished--Pauline's Books, English Bay Books, Granville Book Co., et al.  There are still some very good stores, primarily niche servers, like Kidsbooks and Barbara-jo's Books to Cooks, but the general interest independent stores are a seriously endangered species.  

And of all the stores Vancouver had, and of all the booksellers, Duthie's and Bill Duthie were the best.  One remembers Bill Duthie's quiet charm, his air of mild amusement, his unfailing taste, his quest for the little-known.  His first store, on Robson Street, with the wrought iron spiral stairway leading to the Paperback Cellar (on which I once found myself chest to chest with a polo-coated Sean Connery) was a treasure, but others followed, most memorably Manhattan Books, backed by Binky's Oyster bar, named for another legendary bookman. 

These are not good days in Canada for clever, personalized book stores.  Gone, for yet another example, are two of McNally Robinson's wonderful stores.  (One McNally Robinson store in Winnipeg had a yellow brick road leading to the children's section.)

So here we book lovers go, looking for another yellow brick road.  One is grateful for Munro Books in Victoria.  Meanwhile, farewell, Duthie's.  And many and enduring thanks.