This is one of nine Montreal locations circa 1980. The sign shows they got Bill 101ed early. Any idea of the location? Looks like Place Zeckendorf (which you may know as PVM).
This is one of nine Montreal locations circa 1980. The sign shows they got Bill 101ed early. Any idea of the location? Looks like Place Zeckendorf (which you may know as PVM).
1980 would be late. They'd already gone through a long
ReplyDeletestrike in 1979, and there was going to be another one
about 1984 or '85. I'm blank about when the chain
finally disappeared, but it had to be gone by the
late eighties.
There was a store in Westmount Square, where I'd go
every week to spend my allowance on "How and Why
Wonderbooks" in the sixties. There was the main
paperback one a store or two away from Ogilvy's.
There was the "main" store next to the recruiting
centre at Bishop, I recall they carried a lot of
hardcover at one point (by the end, it was a
clearance center for Classics). There was one in
Alexis Nihon Plaza. If there was one in Place
Ville Marie, I'm suddenly blank, then there must
have been one in Place Bonaventure, back when
there were real stores in there and the convention
area was just a part of it all. There must have
been some in the "outland" malls.
It was really the only chain in town, Coles either
coming later or not being significant until the late
seventies when the one at Stanley became quite a place
(I remember reading they had their own buyers, unlike
the rest of the chain, so it was a more upscale place).
And then it died.
I guess it was Juan Rodriguez who had a piece in
The Gazette a year or two ago about used booksales,
using the hook of finding a Classics bookmark in
a used book. He said something about how used
book stores have disappeared, but I think there
are as many if not more than there used to be.
Some disappear, but others take their place. Some
are there forever, and others are there for what
seems forever until they actually close. I think
more English bookstores selling new books have
disappeared, and that may be an ongoing trend.
Mansfield Book Mart disappeared in the early eighties,
but of course Paragraphe Books took over the location
(and they added the cafe so they could stay open on
Sundays, back when Sunday shopping didn't exist).
There was a litte book store in the late eighties where Santropol
Roulant is now. There was a store on Peel near Sherbrooke
Street, again in the late eighties or so, that was successful
until they moved to Le Faurbourg and then it faded. There
was a store on Queen Mary that had an annual sale in early
December, disappearing a decade or so ago.
Nova Books was the city's first Science Fiction book store,
opening about 1977 by Peter Black who apparently had
previously worked at Classics. It was on Crescent below
St. Catherine Street, a great place and really just
science fiction books, at a time when science fiction
was booming and a lot of old titles were in print. It
moved a couple of times later, adding comics and
finally fading in the Belgo Building.
Nebula Books, the 2nd SF bookstore, came later, in a walk up
on Sherbrooke Street just west of Guy about 1990. It was
never strictly science fiction, and was never as good as Nova.
it too moved at least once, before eventually dying too.
There was the anarchist bookstore on St. Lawrence Blvd below
Sherbrooke, opening with a wine and cheese party on August
23rd 1977. An offshoot of Black Rose Books, it was soon
collectivized and lasted up until a few years ago.
There was Metamorposis, a "new age" book store that was on
Sherbrooke Street across from McGill for quite some time,
I gues starting in the late seventies, and then moved to Bleury
(or is it Park Ave?) just above Sherbrooke Street, about where
Phantasmagoria used to be.
Prospero Books, it was a small chain with a store in Toronto
and Ottawa but maybe by the time it hit Montreal it had been
eaten by Coles, they opened a store in Les Cours Mount Royal
in the late eighties or early nineties (and even though all
the books were English, the signs were in French), lasting a
decent number of years before disappearing, likely redundancy
by then it was eaten by a Big Chain so there was little use
for another store there.
There was a WH Smith on St. Catherine Street on the eastern end of that
building where the HMV is now fading at some point before the store was
taken overy by a Jean Coutu (which later moved further east). That was
around in the seventies, though I don't recall when it faded out.
I recall you could order books at Diamond Books, in Westmount at Grey even
back then but I thought they had a store on St. Catherine Street near the
Seville for a while, so I think they originally were a new book store, not
used. Or maybe just the one near The Seville was new books.
Michael
I'm very probably way off on this and was only a tiny kid when these stores were still open, but this location looks like inside the Dorval airport. I'm only saying because of the seemingly high ceiling clearance.
ReplyDeleteDowntown Train Station
ReplyDeleteGood post, Michael. And let's not forget the incredible, much-lamented goliath of Montreal used books, Russell's.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I vote for the train station answer. I recall there being one and this looks like it.
Would that be the same Russell's (i.e., same folks) as the one in Victoria, BC? I was amused to find a philosophy book there (by a Concordia prof) that had begun life in the McGill Bookstore (sales slip still between the pages); it returned with me to Montréal.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is the same Russell's as in Victoria. Same family, anyway. I was told that not too long ago by someone in the used book trade in Montreal.
ReplyDeleteWhen the land for Russell's was expropriated they shipped their stock out to Victoria. Apparently Russell's in Montreal had a staggering amount of books in storage, in addition to what they had on the shelves.
I remember when I used to go there that Russell's bought everything I wanted to unload, unlike most other places, who'd always pick and choose.
Thanks for the info, Shawn! Thought that might've been the reason...
ReplyDeleteLooks like the airport to me.
ReplyDeletethere also used to be a Paperbax. The only one i remember was at Cavendish which i think is now a Coles.
ReplyDeleteNice reminiscing about Montreal Used Book Stores. I was wondering about Bibliomanie, which was on Park in the 1980a, then moved downtown near Westcott's and Capitaine Quebec comics, (which used to be almost a used bookstore strip, like Queen Street in Toronto) and then closed.
ReplyDeleteI heard the rumour while working in a used book store, that The Word on Milton was one of the most profitable retail spaces in Montreal, based on return vs. square footage in floor space.
Why do you guys always have to bring up Bill 101 at every turn? Geez, get over it!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI used to work at Classic Books, in the warehouse for the bookstore on St-Catherine and for Louis Melzack's wife's store, The Way-In Bazaar, which was across the street. That would be about 1968.
ReplyDeleteSure I remember Classics. I loved the "Littlebooks" location on Ste.Catherine & Bishop, and the "Sale Annex" someone mentioned across the street near the recruitment centre.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, times are tough in the book trade. Blame it on this here interwub gimmick. Thank you, Al Gore.
Never much liked the original Diamond, but thought it was cool while Niall Russell ran it. Poor Niall.
Nova (which was also Montreal's first comic-book shop)? Well, as I understood it from Norman (who worked there quite a few years), Peter was just getting tired of the weekly "new comic day" grind, and semi-retired to just taking care of comic subscribers out of his home.
I can confirm the Victoria Russel's is related: It was set up and operated by Nigel (Mr.) Russel's daughter and son-in-law when the Craig St. building was expropriated.
It was always fun watching my wife chat with Nigel Russell: Because he was old, she decided he must be deaf. The poor fella would just stand there cringing (and conversing politely, of course, he was a gentleman)...
I can't drift around anywhere in the memory lane of Montreal bookselling without mentioning my (kinda) mentor: Archie Wilenski. Hard to believe he's been gone 40 years.
Ah well, I know that sometime Coolopolis contributor "Haroldro"
knew Archie (we had some correspondence about Snowdon a few years back), so I'll just take this opportunity to say "Hi Harold", hope all is well with you.
And take the opportunity to plug my used bookstore/comic shop:
Librairie Astro -1844 Ste.Catherine St.W. between St.Mathieu and St.Marc.
We'll have been here 25 years in July.
We open at noon seven days a week, and of course we always need money, so y'all come on in and drop some bucks, OK?
Hello...many years later. That is the PVM store. I worked there. This is not the airport store where I was a manager.
ReplyDelete