The local retailers

I haven't been buying too many books over the last year, largely because I'm such an ardent user of the library. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise - after all, I work in a library! It wouldn't make sense not to use its immense collection. I'm also a big fan of the Toronto Public Library, although lately I've been using it for CDs rather than books. (One frustrating aspect of the TPL is that it doesn't send out e-mail reminders when my material is due, which means I'm usually incurring overdue fines. Thankfully, they only charge $0.30/day - although when one has about 10 items charged out, it can add up quickly...)

I also made a decision when I moved this past fall that I would pare my library (such as it is) down, so I ended up culling about 10 bankers boxes worth of books (I donated them to one of the university fall book sales; I probably bought most of them from there anyway). I was quite pleased that, once I moved, I could fit the majority of my permanent collection (consisting primarily of my favourite writers such as Roth, Murakami, Murdoch, et al., along with "genres" such as books about Toronto, various short story collections and cherished books from my childhood or gifted to me by friends) in one Ikea bookshelf. (There were a few that I couldn't fit, mostly my books about music and about writers on writing, so I relegated them to the office.) I did leave room for some new purchases, but I didn't have immediate plans to go on a book spending spree. For one, I already had quite a backlog of books I was reading.

But this weekend, I finally caved and bought two new books. I actually wrote about these a while back, but I only just this Saturday got around to purchasing them: 2666 by Roberto Bolano (perhaps my current favourite author) and Rebecca Rosenblum's collection of short stories, Once. These were easy purchases to make. Since I discovered Bolano with last year's wonderful The Savage Detectives, I'm hoping to purchase all his books for my personal library. And of course it's always good to support young Canadian writers, hence the Rosenblum purchase. (I read the first story, ContEd, which was quite good - a harbinger of the rest of the stories, I hope.) Even better, I bought from my local book retailer, Another Story Books.

My dad was forever preaching to me on the merits of buying local, reasoning that if one didn't buy from the local retailer, they might not be there when you do need them. Since I've been living in the city from age 20, coupled with the fact that I've never owned a car, it's been fairly easy to stick to this dictate. I've evolved and refined the local rule as well: in short, if it's at all possible, I'll buy from the smaller, independent retailer. (I was telling the lovely A. this weekend that only once have I visited a Wal-Mart: about 8 years ago at Square One in Mississauga. I bought a roasting pan - which I no longer have as I lost it in my last break-up).

I worry, however, that this rule will be harder to maintain as the years pass and the small, local retailer struggles to compete against the behemoth chains. I've even noticed it in terms of my book buying (slight as it is these days). For years and years, my main retail stop for new books (I used to buy a lot of secondhand stuff as well) was the Annex's Book City. It was so easy to spend an hour browsing through the store. Its staff were also among the most intelligent readers in the city - largely because so many of them were also writers - and always ready with helpful recommendations. Buying from them was guilt free. (Of course it also helped that my closest friend worked there for many years, so I'd usually get the 40% staff discount. How I miss those days!)

I'm saddened to report that Book City is no longer as wonderful as it once was. Sure, its selection is still strong, but it's a lot less thorough. For example, the Annex shop no longer has a second floor (where they used to have a fantastic selection of music, film and travel books, among other subjects). I also couldn't find Once. My main beef, however, is that its staff is not nearly as good or as knowledgeable. I find many of them aloof and unfriendly, and often they aren't that familiar with the store's stock. But maybe this says more about me, that as I get older I'm becoming more of a curmudgeon with respect to service. Or maybe I just miss the discount...

The past couple of years, I've found myself shopping occasionally from the Chapters/Indigo chain. (For the Americans that visit this site, it's akin to Borders. For UK readers, Waterstones.) And also Amazon. In fact, as I chronicled a couple of weeks back, I was prepared to buy the two books I just purchased this weekend at Amazon. I would have saved some money: it would have cost around $35 instead of the $53 I paid at Another Story. (Of course I would have had to add something else to reach the magic $39 to enjoy free shipping.) But my friend M. sort-of made me feel guilty about buying from Amazon, so I held off.

I'm glad I did since it allowed me to discover the wonderful Another Story shop. They even have a loyalty program: if I spend $200, I get a $10 credit. Ok, it's not much, but it's something! (And as I pointed out to the woman punching in my purchase, I'm already a quarter of the way there.) There's also the great secondhand shop She Said Boom just up the road, if I'm in the mood for some used fare.

Pity the wonderful music shop Soundscapes can't open a second location in my neighbourhood. Then I'd really be set. Oh, and a local liquor store.

Watching: Word Play (fun film), Fallen Angels (disappointing, but I chalk that up to the crappy film-to-DVD transfer, which basically dulled the look of the highly stylized cinematography).
Reading: see above.
Listening to: Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammar, Margaret Atwood's Massey Lectures (on my iPod while running).