Prominent downtown bookstore closing

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: PT CAMPBELL BOOKDEALER
A long-standing bookstore on Richmond Street, PT Campbell BookDealer will be closing its doors September 20.

Entering the shop feels like a different era, with almost 30,000 books on display. The owners help with any book request, knowing the exact place of the inquiry. It is the quintessential used bookstore.

PT Campbell BookDealer is the business of Paul and April Campbell, who – along with Paul’s mother Ruth – will be closing the doors after 11 years situated at 388 Richmond St.

A combination of growing overhead expenses and a shrinking customer base in the core are the primary reasons Paul attributes to the upcoming change from permanent to pop-up.

It’s not because people aren’t reading, however.

“[Under the old model] on the average week we sell 1,000 books,” said Paul. “People don’t really travel, so if they live in the north end, they tend to shop in their area or certain places... it’s hard to lure them out, but by us moving, it exposes us to them too.”

Which is a good thing, while students make up one of the largest groups of customers (tied with seniors), multiple students interviewed didn’t know about the store, let alone the closing.

“I haven’t heard of them but I’m a big reader,” said Fanshawe student Jolie Grenier, adding she would definitely consider being added to the mailing list being compiled by PT’s for future sales and pop-up locations.

Corporate Communications student Lisa Kelly also didn’t know about the store or its closing but said, “I plan on heading down to it, because I love books.”

Love for the medium is still there, and the main issues seem to be location and communication, both of which will be solved by the change.

“We did a lot of advertising in a short period of time on Facebook and Twitter, and we got quite a bit of attention, particularly from young people, college aged kids,” Paul said when experimenting a pop-up sale back in the spring. A pop-up that went on to sell over 10,000 books in 10 days.

And that’s the future for PT’s around London: highly curated selections at each sale – including a booth at the Forest City Comicon, held October 19 at Centennial Hall.

Paul said there would be a name change sometime in the future, but that the current Facebook page would be used foreseeably.

For now though, PT Campbell’s is still a physical location with a myriad of books to pour over.

Sales until September 20 are: one book for $1, three books for $2, 10 books for $5, a bag of books for $10, a small box for $20 and a large box for $50, with bags and boxes being provided by the store.

After the sale Paul said he and his wife would be “happy to be taking a vacation.”

You can sign up for the email list in store or check out the Facebook page at tinyurl.com/mwrwa78.