Russell Books is an independent bookstore in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Matt Humphrey, "Page-turning turnover: Huge demand spurs Victoria book store to move to larger location". CBC News British Columbia, August 14, 2019. A family-owned business still owned and operated by the children and grandchildren of its founder, it has been labelled as the largest used bookstore in Canada."Russell Books on Fort Street a family affair". Victoria News, January 2, 2008.
History Russell Books was founded in 1962 by Reg Russell in Montreal.Ian Mayer, "Bookstore fare includes cut-rate best-sellers and rare first editions". Montreal Gazette, July 13, 1985. Originally launched as The Book Nook, the store became Russell Books in 1983.A. Lawrence Healey, "His Montreal store held almost a square kilometre of used books: Dean of the city's English-language antiquarian booksellers believed in high volume and low prices". The Globe and Mail, May 30, 2007.
In 1991, Russell helped open a Victoria branch with his daughter, Diana, and her husband, Ron DePol.Alan Hustak, "Montreal icon had Victoria connections". Victoria Times-Colonist, March 10, 2007. The store is currently managed by Reg Russell's granddaughter, Andrea Minter, and her husband, Jordan Minter.
The Montreal store remained in operation until 1999, when its location was expropriated for the expansion of the Palais des congrès de Montréal; Reg Russell then launched the smaller Diamond Books store in another location, and operated it until selling it upon his retirement in 2004.Pat Donnelly, "It's the end of an era for local bibliophiles". Montreal Gazette, August 21, 2004. Upon his retirement, Russell's antiquarian book collection was shipped to his daughter's Victoria store, while most of the store's regular stock remained with its new owners. A scene in the 1999 film The Bone Collector was shot in the Montreal store before its closure.Carla Wilson, "Russell Books a fixture in downtown Victoria". Vancouver Sun, March 22, 2006.
In 1996, Russell Books became one of the first independent bookstores in the world to place its inventory on AbeBooks.
In 2005, Diana's son Brandon and his wife Charlene helped start up another store, Books on View, as a division of Russell Books, in the Sayward Building at the corner of View and Douglas Streets.
The Victoria store expanded its space several times, taking over the upstairs floor of an adjoining building in 2008Darron Kloster, "Canada's largest used-book seller expands Victoria shop; Russell Books downtown location adds 3,000 square feet of space". Vancouver Sun, October 3, 2008. and taking over the neighbouring Fort Café in 2013.Darron Kloster, "Russell Books expands again; Canada's biggest used bookstore stretches to 16,000 square feet". Victoria Times-Colonist, February 23, 2013. In 2019, the store moved across the street to a new, larger location with 10,000 square feet on the main floor and 8,000 square feet (743.22 m²) below. This move required employees to manually move over half a million books. Because of the main store's expanded space, Books on View was concurrently shut down.Richard Watts, "Russell begins march of a million books". Times Colonist, August 16, 2019.
Prior to the move, Russell Books claimed to be the largest independent used bookseller in Canada, with their locations containing over 1 million volumes. They hoped the new location would allow them to increase their inventory to 1.25 million volumes.
Guinness World Records On November 14, 2019, as an event promoting their new location, the bookstore set a new world record for the number of stacked Guinness World Records books.
Rankings It has been rated as one of the best bookstores in Victoria, British Columbia, in the LSE Review of Books, published by the London School of Economics.
See also Munro's Books
References