Meet Your Bookseller: Upstart Upstairs

Upstart Upstairs in Gibsons, BC

Nestled under the rafters and above the tasting room of Persephone Brewing in Gibsons is a sunny nook smelling of fresh-cut cedar, full of beautiful books. The room is a galley: one wall has a display of covers faced out and one wall has shelved titles. This is Upstart Upstairs, the new location of Granville Island’s Upstart & Crow. In this Meet Your Bookseller spotlight, we spoke with Zoe Grams about this new location.

Read Local BC: Let’s start with the location. Why did you decide to expand from your one store in Vancouver to the Sunshine Coast? What was the process of opening this store?

Zoe Grams: The folks at Persephone Brewing invited us to collaborate with them on their ethical, sustainable farm in Gibsons. We’ve admired Persephone’s vision and work for years, and so when they were looking for a partner to turn the top floor of their tasting room barn into a cultural space, we jumped at the opportunity. We opened Upstart Upstairs in May, and the Sunshine Coast community has been wonderfully welcoming ever since.

How do you decide what books to stock when there is room for only a small number of titles? What sorts of titles should people expect to find on the shelves?

We stock books that align with Persephone’s mandate as a B-Corporation and sustainable operation. A good portion of our non-fiction collection focuses on the climate crisis and solutions, regenerative agriculture, nature and ecosystems intelligence, and democratic, progressive politics. Our fiction collection prioritizes similar themes to those in our flagship studio on Granville Island, with a particular focus on literature in translation. In both locations we choose books that people may not have discovered otherwise—stunning titles from around the world that are curated and grouped in unusual combinations.

What is it like having a bookstore on a beer farm?

We absolutely love it! What could be better than a book and a beer on a warm day (or a cold one, for that matter)? To be surrounded by plants and greenery, to collaborate with a truly dedicated team, to offer people a peaceful room to browse new titles and then have lunch downstairs; it really feels like a special, idyllic place.

How has the self-checkout system been going? I was very curious when I went in there one day and saw that! It was interesting to see this type of automation at the store.

Upstart Upstairs is a small space that doesn’t currently require a full-time staff member. The self-checkout option allows us to run the store with lower overhead, though our team visits often to restock, drink beer and hang out. Customers who want some human contact can always purchase their books downstairs in Persephone’s tasting room.

We may hire staff for the shop in the future, but for now we’re grateful that we can trust our patrons and that it seems to be a smooth (and honest) system! 

Are there any forthcoming books you are excited about?

We’re terrifically excited by Rachael Moorthy’s River Meets the Sea (House of Anansi), which is already a staff favourite, as well as Christopher Pollon’s Pitfall (Greystone Books), an essential dive into mining that asks how we can “mine the metals we need without replicating the environmental and human rights abuses of the past.” And we’re thrilled that Peter Riley’s Strandings (Profile Books) will be released in Canada after its terrific UK debut this October.

What place do you think independent bookstores have in a community?

Indie bookstores are the places where people can go for a quiet ten minutes; for ideas or connection in times of need; for discovery and excitement and joy; for community and networking; for reverence. What I love about indies is that they are so much more than a retail space, and that “more” evolves and morphs based on the store’s personality and that of its patrons and community.

What is the most pressing issue facing your bookstore or the bookselling industry as a whole?

The ongoing convenience that Amazon and other big online stores offer continues to draw significant resources away not only from independent bookstores but from independent publishers, too. This homogenization of retailers leads to the homogenization of ideas, which is something we all need to be conscious of. Also, the very real rise in costs and the depletion of rental facilities for small businesses are huge challenges.

If you could relaunch an old book at Upstart Upstairs (like a movie theatre showing Grease today), what book would it be and what kind of relaunch party would you plan?

I’m going to dodge the question here and say that overall, I wish that so many books had the opportunity for a relaunch or longer launch timeline. With so many books in the market, often we’re “on to the next thing” ever so quickly. I’d encourage everyone to look at backlist books and discover recently or less-recently published works, in addition to paying attention to whatever is in the news this week.