Munro's Books of Victoria named Magazines Canada's Retailer of the Year

BC's Munro's Books has been named Magazines Canada's Retailer of the Year for 2015, It is well known as having been co-founded by renowned short story writer Alica Munro and her then husband Jim. Here's the text of the Magazines Canada announcement:

Co-owner Ian Cochran, along with Sarah Frye, Carol Mentha and principal owner Jessica Walker, was pleased to add the Retailer of the Year award to another recent accolade from none other than National Geographic: in their 2015 book Destinations of a Lifetime, Munro's was #3 on a list of their top 10 bookstores in the world. 

From the National Geographic citation: "In 1963, exactly a half century before she won the Nobel Prize in literature, Alice Munro cofounded a bookstore with her then husband, Jim. Munro's has since moved into a magnificent, neoclassical former bank, decorated with gorgeous fabrics, in Old Town, Victoria, British Columbia." 

Open at its first of three locations on Yates Street in 1963, the store watched as the neighbourhood changed and the library and movie theatres that were the anchors moved away and, in 1979, Munro's followed the pedestrian traffic flow to a new location on 4th Street. This is where Cochran joined the staff just before the move in 1984 to its current location on Government Street. 

When asked about the role of magazines at the store, Cochran said this could be dated back to the early 1990s: Munro's added magazines "when Chapters came to town in order to compete with them." The store has been a great seller of Canadian magazines and literary magazines in particular, and a great support of Magazines Canada's promotions over the years. 

The Magazines Canada Retailer of the Year Award recognizes the vital role retailers play in the Canadian magazine landscape, and is awarded annually to an outstanding client of Magazines Canada's distribution service who cultivates this connection between consumers and their Canadian magazines. Congratulations to Munro's! 

The Retailer of the Year Award will be presented at the Magazines Canada reception on Thursday, June 9, 2016 at MagNet: Canada's Magazine Conference at the Courtyard Toronto Downtown at 475 Yonge St. in Toronto.