Georgian Bay Books opened in 2016.Handout
Georgian Bay Books
Where: Midland, Ont.
Owners: Sarah Kenney and Sandy Dunsford
Local literary hero: There is a lovely Georgian Bay book by Nick Eyles that sells very well because of our location. You can see Georgian Bay from our store.
Books we love: We read and loved Mark Bourrie’s Bush Runner and he came to the store for a book signing in May. It’s a true crazy adventure that takes place in Ontario that we’ve all forgotten about.
Our story: We opened in 2016 when the local corporate [book] store was evicted from their place in the mall and we lost our jobs. We’ve been open for three years, and our business has increased every year. Midland has a large reading community that enjoys discussing what they are reading; when they come to the store, it’s like a mini book club. We hand-sell all of our favourite books, and learning about what our customers are reading helps us decide what to stock in the future. We aren’t very big, only 600 square feet.
Recent visiting authors: We participate in many local events with our library and the [Midland] Cultural Centre. Our most recent ones were with Maureen Jennings, Ted Barris, Anna Porter, with latest one being Waubgeshig Rice (Moon of the Crusted Snow).