Chapters bookstore is turning the page in their Victoria story as the Douglas Street location announces plans to relocate to Mayfair Shopping Centre.
When the doors open at the new location in summer 2018, it won’t be because the 100-per-cent Canadian-owned company was pushed out of downtown due to rising rents.
“Indigo is always actively looking for real estate in every community we’re in,” says acting general manager Corinne Russell. “It was just time to freshen up.”
Chapters’ parent company, Indigo Books and Music, has operated the big box bookstore under both names since they merged back in 2001. Chapters Inc. was created in 1994 after Canada’s two biggest book chains at the time – Coles and SmithBooks – combined under CEO Lawrence Stevenson.
Chapters has been in business in the heart of downtown at 1212 Douglas St. for over 20 years, successfully. In 2015, when Chapters announced it would close its flagship Vancouver store on Robson Street, company spokesperson Janet Egar said that wouldn’t be the case for the Victoria location.
Next summer’s projected opening date depends on the progress of construction on the mall expansion, and the fact the new store will be custom built, Russell says.
“We’re going to be a one-floor store,” she explains. “And stock is going to go up. We’re going to be a bigger volume store, we’re going to have a designated Indigo kids department.”
The new location will set up shop at the high-profile corner of Douglas and Finlayson streets and yes, there will be a Starbucks inside.
“When we move, we won’t be a Chapters, we’ll be opening up as an Indigo because we’re streamlining the brand,” Russell says.
Going forward, each store across Canada will either operate under the Indigo or Indigo Spirit branding. In summer 2018, Indigo will also try its hand in the U.S. market, where they’re slated to open a location in a New Jersey mall.
kristyn.anthony@vicnews.com
