Otter Books, nestled in Nelson in the Southern Interior of BC, recently celebrated 15 years of bookselling. The independent bookstore is a pillar of the community and both locals and tourists praise the wide selection of books and the dedication of the staff.
Read Local BC caught up with owner Letty Bartels and store manager Samara Nicoll to chat about Otter Books, store mascots Merry and Oli, and the reading community in Nelson.
“I had wanted to own a bookstore for a long time and when the opportunity came I jumped at it,” says owner Letty Bartels. “I had no prior experience as a bookseller but had co-owned another retail business with my husband, and felt comfortable around books as I’ve always been an avid reader.”
Store manager Samara had similar bookselling ambitions. “I’ve been working here for ten years now. It’s been my dream since high school to run a bookstore. I was working in Victoria and heard through the grapevine (a.k.a., my family) that the assistant manager of Otter Books was leaving to go back to school. So I called Letty (who was a family friend) and said that I was very interested in the position. I moved back home to Nelson, and had an informal interview. Funnily, the assistant manager didn’t end up leaving until the next year, but I was able to work there part-time until then. I’ve been the manager for about the last five years—it was a gradual transition, which was nice.”
Congrats on 15 years! Tell us about the history of the store, your community, and customers.
“When I took over the store I didn’t buy the business per se; I bought the contents and assumed the lease,” explains Letty, who also renamed the store (formerly Oliver’s Books) when she bought it from the previous owner of 30 years.
“This gave us a fresh start with our suppliers and our customers. Most of the small amount of stock was remaindered books. We had a big sale to clear out much of this before putting out new stock and having our grand opening. The store took off like a rocket and I was hiring more staff daily until there were five of us. Since we opened on November 1, we were racing the clock to get adequate stock in for Christmas.”
“Letty has also done a great job supporting and promoting local authors since the beginning,” adds Samara. “We have a wonderful literary community here in Nelson. Our customers are wonderfully supportive, not only of our store, but supporting local in general – whether that be local authors, local businesses, and local initiatives. Nelson is special in that it’s a small community with a big cultural scene—we have so many talented authors, musicians, artists, crafters in this area. We do our best to stock our shelves with our customers in mind.”
“We also have a thriving tourist industry, both in the winter when the ski hill is open, and in the summer when people flock to our mountains, lakes and rivers, and to the area’s quaint towns and villages,” says Letty. “Many of these people like to check out the local book store and are generally enthusiastic
Your social media posts are incredible—#bookfacefridays and little Oli. Who comes up with this stuff? Is it a group activity?
Samara: Thank you! We have a lot of fun with social media. #bookfacefridays came about around two years ago when a customer shared a BuzzFeed (I think) post about book faces, and we thought, hey we could do that! And we haven’t looked back since.
How do you organize the store and the shelves?
“Most of the layout has stayed the same since the initial arrangement when we opened,” explains Letty. “I tried to organize the sections by common sense and lay out the shelving and displays so as to give the most visual impact of being surrounded by books from the minute a customer enters the store.”
“The store is organized by genre generally and then we have a pretty large local interest and local author section as well as a bargain book section,” adds Samara. “Our children’s storybook section is organized a bit more thematically because of how they are displayed (such as nighttime books, funny books, feelings).”
What are some of the funny things customers ask?
Letty: Quite often people will be looking for a book that is blue (or red or green…) with a girl (man, dog…) on the cover. Surprisingly we often find it for them.
What’s the strangest request you’ve had for a book?
“Someone recently asked us if we had a book on money laundering…like Money Laundering for Dummies. I’m sure it was a hoax, but they sounded rather earnest. We had a bemused chuckle at that one,” laughs Samara.
“The main thing that we get are people who have been listening to CBC and come in the next day, but didn’t manage to get any important information down on paper—such as author name or the title of the book—so we have to do some sleuthing via the internet.”
Which book do you think is underappreciated?
“A recent title I really enjoyed and have been trying to promote without much success is The Revolution of Marina M. by Janet Fitch, says Letty. “It’s wonderfully entertaining while also giving a chilling picture of the beginnings of Soviet rule in Russia.”
Owner Letty loves the latest novel by @JanetFitch323 , The Revolution of Marina M. And how fortunate that we could do a #bookfacefriday with this excellent cover! #bookface @littlebrown @HBGCanada @HachetteBooks #readit #recommendedreading pic.twitter.com/dwyl1qZK7n
— Otter Books Inc. (@Otter_Books_Inc) November 9, 2018
Which books have you re-read or recommended most?
“Some older books I still recommend are 419 by Will Ferguson, Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell and Girl From the Train by Irma Joubert, says Letty. “I like historical fiction as I’m a firm believer in knowing our past to avoid repeating our most flagrant errors. Also 1491 by Charles C. Mann, about the early history of the Americas.”
“Oh so many!” gushes Samara. “I’ve probably re-read The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay at least five times, and I love to recommend The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, The Golden Spruce by John Valliant, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, The Woefield Poultry Collective by Susan Juby, and The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan.
Do you have a favourite time as a bookseller?
“I think my favourite times are when I’m on the till and it isn’t too busy or too slow and there’s time to chat with customers, see familiar faces and meet visitors from all over the world,” explains Letty. “I’m in the back of the store a lot, ordering, paying the bills, doing all that administrative work, so it is always a treat to be out front.”
“Christmas is probably our most fun (and busiest) month. I love recommending books to people and helping them find the right gift for friends and loved ones. It’s
What is your favourite part of being an independent bookstore?
“We really get to curate our selection to our customers (and our own) tastes,” says Samara. “We get to show our personality not only in the books we stock, but the way that we present the store on social media. And that is why people come back. We are a community—not just a retail business.”
“Being a very independent sort of person, I enjoy that I and the staff make all our own decisions about everything,” says Letty. “We can have fun and be ourselves. There is no script to adhere to, so we can interact with our customers as is appropriate in each individual case. We don’t have to pressure our customers to buy anything, just enjoy them enjoying the store.”
“We also get to build long-lasting relationships with our customers,” continues Samara. “I love when people come back in for another recommendation because they loved the last one I recommended to them. Or that I know to give Carol a call when the latest Louise Penny arrives. And that every year we get a call from a lovely couple in England who buy a card (that we pick) and
“Also, being part of an independent bookstore—as opposed to another kind of store—means I’m surrounded by my favourite things: books!” adds Letty.
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Are you taking part in the independent booksellers “convention” in Vancouver Sat. April 30th?