64 1: N e n a R a w d a h / C r o s s & C r o w s B o o k s
B C B U S I N E S S . C A
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 24
LIKELY STORY
New or used, fiction or non-fiction, these local
indie bookstores have you covered for your next
great escape
by Gates Annai
I N V E N T O R Y
5. Rolling
Onward
What began as a
bookstore on wheels
in the spring of 2021
(1973 Shasta trailer
wheels, to be specific)
is now a brick-and-
mortar shop in
Revelstoke. Fable
Book Parlour is the
brainchild of Stacy
Batchelor and Kristin
Olsen. The store
carries new and used
books with a focus on
literary fiction for kids,
young adults and up,
as well as adventure
stories and guide-
books for your trip up
the mountain. They
put sustainability at
the forefront, and are
bringing the discus-
sion of what the pro-
duction, sourcing and
shipping of books in
Canadian bookselling
is costing the climate.
fablebookparlour.com
2. The Cat's
Pajamas
What goes together
better than groovy
music, a good book
and a cat on your
lap? John and Cat
Hughes, alongside
their shop kitty, Luna,
would say not much.
Groove Cat Books
and Records in New
Westminster boasts
a large selection of
local goods and all
genres of books and
records, including
some rare punk-rock
originals. The store
opened in 2022, just
in time for the rise
of Booktok (visit for
your next haul or just
to cuddle with Luna).
groovecatbooks.com
4. Huckleberry
Jammin'
Huckleberry Books
has had a long history
(since 1971!) of names,
locations and ow ners,
but the current itera-
tion was bought by
Erin Dalton in 2019.
The store is packed
with new books from
a variety of genres,
including an excep-
tional kid's section
and a carefully
curated selection of
non-fiction. Dalton's
goal is to fill her
shelves with books
that showcase under-
represented voices,
and she holds annual
fundraisers for local
organizations in Cran-
book, her home base.
huckleberrybooks.ca
1. Queerly
Beloved
To queer and
Lebanese-American
owner Nena Rawdah,
a bookstore is nothing
without its book-
worms, and her East
Vancouver store Cross
and Crows aims to be
a welcoming space
for all. Since opening
in 2023, she's featured
queer books and art
and welcomed influ-
ential authors and
artists into her space,
including Martha
Shelley, co-founder
of the Gay Liberation
Front, and Kai Cheng
Thom, author of Fall-
ing Back in Love with
Being Human. cros-
sandcrows.com
3. Required
Reading
Within a cozy
500-square-foot
space, Notably has
tightly packed a wide
selection of new fic-
tion books, graphic
novels and classics.
Since 2021, Samara
Nicoll has been run-
ning the bookstore of
her teenage dreams
(she made it work
des pite opening just
as the third wave of
the pandemic hit).
Rocky road aside,
she's managed to
create a chill space
that celebrates
Nelson's voracious
readers. notably.ca
6. She Should
Be at the (Book)
Club
As the pandemic
began to wind down,
Kerri Doyle was crav-
ing a place to connect
with others through
books. So she opened
Books and Shenani-
gans in 2021. Since
then, she's created
a small but mighty
community of book
lovers in Victoria,
hosting seven month-
ly book clubs and one
quarterly club (there's
a waitlist to join). "My
store is smaller than
most, so I am unable
to host a lot of the big,
author-type events,"
says Doyle, "but being
located in this village,
within this commu-
nity, I get to know
people by name—and
that's pretty great."
booksandshenani
gans.com
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