Last Osborne Village Bookstore Set to Close

The owner sounds like a pretentious [edited]. I’ve never been to that particular book store, but I’m not at all sorry.

Yeah. What’s with a photo of a bookstore that is not the one in the story? Little misleading don’t you think…? Get out there and take a photo of the place for Chr#st’s Sake!

Hey Chris,

A little background might help here. Morris has been around for longer than five years, under various names like the Book Warehouse and Hungry Mind, and in various locations (Corydon and Erin leap to mind). He’s an odd guy with odd business practices, and I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that he’s closing. (And actually, if I recall correctly, he was censured by the City for having a Going Out of Business sign for months/years.) The book business is a tough one, but books are an easier sell than disease.

One more quick note about the article itself. It’s a little confusing at the end. Is he relocating or not? It sounds like he’s looking for space to not move into (which is maybe what he’s doing, I don’t know).

Keep up the good work with the interesting scoops that the mainstream press doesn’t bother with.

Cheers
Kelly Hughes
Aqua Books

Yes, Keelly Hughes and another poster that prefer fancy dancy frontages are correct. The prior owner at our location didn’t put any money into this decrepit 100 year old building for many years so the bricks were falling off the sides. Finally, the building was purchased for approx. $850,000 (value of the land) but the new owner didn’t realize the extent of decay. We got notice to move and so did the Consumer’s association, a tenant in that building for over 15 years. The new owners plan an outdoor patio cafe/restaurant on the main floor facing Osborne/ Macmillan. Unlike many local bookshop owners, I saw the writing on the wall a couple years ago. We’re currently holding a going out of business sale (city never censured us for having any such type of sale in past but thats typical of some of the fibs certain booksellers seem to spread about us)….however, this one’s for real. I’ve already partly re-located- some of our books are being sold at various local flea markets and country fairs (see schedule)….however, I think the last time we sold books to move we sold virtually nothing …..unlike Mr. Hughes fine establishment we do not sell old readers digest, book clubs, tattered or classic re-issue publishers. Proudly, most of our stock is priced $5 or more because the quality is extremely high.

Most of our stock is comprised of authors like Nietzsche, Camus, Hunter S. Thompson, Kerouac, Jeffers, Steinbeck, Steadman, Steranko, Salinger, McClure, Corso, Aleister Crowley, Blavatsky, Roald Dahl, Norton Juster, Leonard Cohen, etc.

The balance of books are in low-interest areas like old pulp fiction, original hardy boys firsts, leftist politico, zinn, chomsky, music bios, beatnik, local history, military, film subversive, theatre, etc.

I actually don’t mind well known winnipeg bookshop owners/haters taking pot shots at us – it speaks more of the hate they harbour than anything else!

So, haters aside if you want to stock up on good old tomes, vintage jazz & rock LPs and various tapes & CDs, old paper ephemera, art, music instruments, etc. just drop by 220 Osborne – noon-4 most days. And if you don’t make it down by April 19, no worries mates. Most of the remainder will be donated to local charity for a soon to be announced huge charity book project…..
We also have some great old bookcases, showcases, other fixtures available.
Dealers and public welcome to the closing out sale – except for the banned ones and noted local thieves. There has been a spate of book thieves invading local shops for the last few weeks. {If someone hasn’t purchased the last 2 times in the shop, they don’t get a third chance} I guess on that point Keely H. is correct, I don’t tolerate people stealing our books or records. We are known to have the finest collection of books for sale in Winnipeg so when someone steals a piece they usually get only 50c or a buck from most book dealers, thats what makes it totally frustrating. Most book shops pay paltry for good used books. We’ve paid as high as $10 for Chas. Bukowski editions and I’ve paid as much as $100 for old Jack Kerouac record LPs (which is a poor business practice as I can’t even get $40 for them now….we’ve also paid $5 to $15 for old records of Nirvana, Cramps, Misfits, GG Allin, etc.

And that my friends (and enemas) is the conundrum of book-selling. We were known as a mixed use bookshop, having a solid array of old books (as mentioned in the schedule) and vintage vinyl records (rock, blues, jazz, folk, punk, metal, picture, grunge, etc.)….

The vinyl shop will resurface soon. As soon as we find adequate space to house our collection. Look for our ads in various regional flyers and listen for our ads on various radio outlets in the city.

And mucho thanks to our regular 125 customers over the last 4 years of money-losing operations. It was a pleasure.

As the last old bookshop in the village sets to close let me recommend several shops for your biblio-enthusiasms. Bison Books is much like our shop, only much better organized and good paid parking near portage place. Lysecki’s on Osborne (not in the Village) has over 100,000 titles, tons of paperbacks and some extra rare books (prepare to pay for those), Red River Books, run by my old friend Dennis Boyko has been around for over 40 years, I did their first radio ad back around 36 years ago and is a bigger even more disorganized affair than Beatniks ever was. The old Philoso-Tea on Tache has been bought out by new owners but I hear good things. Since my book purchasing has been reduced by nearly 90%, I would be glad to share with any of you some of the great local collections and private collections to come, some garage-sailing tips and other tips about finding great books. Just pop in during business hours and if we’re not busy (80% of the time we have less than zero peeps in the shop)

And hey, you never know. One of you might even be interested in purchasing the entire shooting match. Offers always entertained.

I’m an odd duck. And I take that as a compliment!

Hi there–

I read with interest your brief description of your stocks–my wife is planning to open a bookstore in the near future, and a large stock preselected by an expert would be a great start. Can you tell me a little more about your goods, and toss an asking price ?

Thanks–
–John and Julianna

I get that reaction a lot. Unfortunately, being located at the ghetto end of the Osborne Village means very little foot traffic as the vast majority of peggers are more interested in buying $100 t-shirts in the mall and their reading lists are locked ‘n loaded with Anne Rice, John Grisham and Stephen King. Perhaps the new owner did me a favour when he decided to put a patio cafe/restaurant at confusion corner. But I’m glad you enjoyed the experience Chris – probably means you’re enlightened cuz 90% of the vermin that comes in my shop takes one look at the Robert Raushenbergs, Jackson Pollocks, Jack Kerouacs, William Burroughs, Bukowksi, Hunter Thompson, Ralph Steadman, Chuck Palahniuk, Kierkegaard, Fuller, McLuhan, Kafka, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Nietzsche, Camus, Nin, Chomsky, Zinn, Maus, etc. and bolt for the exits in less than a couple minutes. Believe it when I say they’re doing me a favour – most locals shouldn’t be reading alternative stuff like we carry. Unfortuantely, the combination of enlightened material and a piss poor location is lethal in this town.

BTW, if anyone knows of a good small retail spot on Sherbrook or in the Exchange let me know at beatnik57@gmail.com