A group of Canadian independent bookstore owners are exploring the possibility of resurrecting the defunct Canadian Booksellers Association, which "operated for more than 60 years before it joined the Retail Council of Canada in 2012," Quill & Quire reported.
While the RCC offers booksellers certain benefits, former CBA members said it isn't meeting the unique needs of bookstores. "Without a unified approach, we became a voice in the wind," said Cathy Jesson, president of B.C. chain Black Bond Books and a member of the new CBA steering committee. "The RCC experiment wasn't what we needed--we were just a tiny voice in that huge organization. I think we lost our identity as Canadian independent booksellers."
The steering committee includes 10 members from across the country, according to Jesson, who said they are working on securing financing and seed money as well as spreading the word to other bookstore owners. There is no time frame in place for an official relaunch yet, though the plan is to ultimately hire a full-time administrator.
The idea to consider reforming the CBA began last year at a Bookmanager Academy event in Kelowna, B.C., where participants lamented the loss of networking and advocacy opportunities. "We missed each other," recalled Shelley Macbeth, owner of Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, Ont., adding that running a store is "very isolating--and who is going to understand what's going on better than other booksellers?"
The goal for the new CBA "will be to create a strong advocacy voice at various levels of government, with the goal of taking on issues like shipping costs or Amazon's outsized influence in the marketplace," Quill & Quire wrote. The original CBA included nearly 1,800 bookstores among its membership in the early 2000s and held an annual convention.
Eleanor LeFave, owner of Mabel's Fables children's bookstore in Toronto, said joining the RCC had made the most sense at the time of the CBA's demise: "They're very successful with government relations, which is something the CBA could barely tackle." She would consider rejoining the CBA should it reform, but cautioned: "Advocacy is a big part of being an association and I don't know that they would have enough funding to work on all [the issues facing independent bookstore owners]."
David Worsley, co-owner of Words Worth Books in Waterloo, Ont., said a new CBA "would be most welcome," especially now that the financial upheavals of the past decade have eased somewhat for booksellers. "There's now a foundation for most indie bookstores to start planning again--maybe we can try things, take risks, afford to make a mistake or two. Now is the perfect time to take a step into a group that could advocate on our behalf on everything from terms with our suppliers to 'shop local' campaigns to access to government. It would be wonderful to see someone who could pick up the ball and run with it."