Recently, while reporting on mitigating wildfires, I had the opportunity to visit Mosaic Books in Kelowna, British Columbia. I had a meeting with the owner, Michael Neill, and the store manager, Alicia Neill, to discuss the state of booksellers in Canada. Michael Neill has a unique perspective on the industry as the founder of Bookmanager, a software system used by over 530 independent bookshops in Canada and the United States. His acquisition of Mosaic Books and relocation to Kelowna were driven by his desire to have a store as a test bed for Bookmanager. According to the latest analysis from Statistics Canada, physical bookstores remained the largest source of book sales in Canada, amounting to a 1.5 billion Canadian dollar market.

Source: New York Times July 22, 2023 10:36 UTC