Readers to the City Welcome Bookstore – TBNewsWatch.com

THUNDER BAY – For many reading enthusiasts, there is nothing better than curling up with a good book and the newly opened Entershine Book Store has just the thing for them; a wide variety of titles from hundreds of authors.

David Tranter says he and his business partners Lynne Warnick, Lori Carson and Jennifer McKenzie had long been talking about opening the bookstore.

“With the pandemic, it was something like this catalyst to say, let’s just do it,” Tranter said. “We are passionate about local shopping and helping local businesses, so we did our homework and found that communities across North America have local bookstores. We found this room and it was a perfect location in the Bay and Algoma neighborhood and we said let’s do it. “

Located on 196 S. Algoma Street between the Bean Fiend Cafe and the Cheese Encounter, the Entershine Book Store is surrounded by the local business culture.

“We somehow knew what we were getting into, but you really never know what you’re getting into,” laughed Tranter. “It was a lot of work renovating the room, building the bookshelves and thinking about what kind of books we wanted on the shelves.”

Tranter says because because of all the supply chain problems caused by the pandemic, they don’t have every book and can get them right away from the publishers, things have slowed down a lot.

“Everyone was struggling with deliveries and it took a while, but we opened just three weeks later than originally planned,” he said. “We did really well. We all decided that we just have to open up – it doesn’t have to be perfect – we just have to open up and we will grow. “

Entershine bookstore opened its doors on July 24th due to the great response from local book enthusiasts, says co-owner Lori Carson.

“We do our best to support the local artists and writers in the community – in fact, we bought our sign from someone in the community who did this for us,” she said. “Our bookmarks are made by a local artist. We chose not to compete with our neighbors, so we try to offer things like gift items that are unique and different. “

Carson says while indigo offers more variety, Entershine can easily order any book anyone wants.

“In our children’s department we have a tree there that will soon be surrounded by a bench. It will be a good place for children to sit in the children’s section, ”she said.

Meanwhile, Tranter says things were “fantastic” as there were lots of visitors doing a lot of shopping.

“When we first opened, there were a lot more books and gifts on the shelves than there are now,” he said. “People have been incredibly supportive through social media. They were so excited to have a (new) bookstore in Thunder Bay.

Tranter says that there used to be other bookstores across town, but they no longer exist.

The Entershine Book Store is currently the only locally owned bookstore besides The Book Shelf that focuses on the sale of used books and book exchanges, as well as other stores that have a selection of books as part of their inventory.

“As an independent bookstore with a wide variety of collections and genres, we’re the only ones,” he said.

The Chronic Journal