Small, Indy and Mighty: A Writer’s Day on Main Street
Vision is the Art of seeing Things invisible - Jonathan Swift
I know what you’re thinking. You’re in Vancouver this weekend and wondering: Where can I buy a book? Maybe you’re travelling with a group, looking for a place to eat that supports diverse dietary needs. Or perhaps you’d just like to escape from downtown for a bit and visit a few of our city’s small independent businesses.
When you shop local, you support local economies, reduce transport emissions, and support local employment. When you shop local and pre-used, you help reduce the approximate 750,000 tonnes of waste that ends up in the Vancouver landfill every year.
With the Canada Post strike on, now would be a good time. Why not make a day of it?
4340 Main Street
Book sanctuary. Real variety. Open late most nights.
First, the vibe. Carson’s is an old school second-hand bookstore where you can still hear the magical sound of slow pages turning. On a recent visit there was a little low blues in the background, mixed with intermittent whispers of appreciative customers: Atonement! And, Wow, A Bird Imitator’s Guide!
This place is like a hidden reader’s paradise, with interesting what’s-in-here stacks, and carefully curated sections (sci-fi, kids, poetry, history, lots of fiction) where everyone pretty much finds something for everyone.
The staff are amiable and knowledgeable. There’s a few stools for sitting down, and you never feel rushed.
In a loud world, this shop is a quiet place for unique books, reasonably priced. Whether you’re shopping for that special book you won’t find anywhere else, or you just want to browse through a quiet space, this is the place. And, they have box sets. Not the digital kind. Actual books, in small boxes. Anne of Green Gables Box Set!
4298 Main Street
A few doors down from Carson’s, is Chickpea. This is a good place to meet writer friends because we like to talk, the room isn’t too loud, and most of the meals are big enough to split. There’s a variety of great vegan meals, Mediterranean flavours, and many dishes are gluten free. The staff are welcoming and pros at handling the lineups. You can linger here, and when you leave, you magically never feel over-stuffed. No matter how many pancakes. All day breakfast.
4118 Main Street
Book Warehouse on Main is an independent neighbourhood bookstore that also promotes new releases by local writers. The friendly staff here read, seriously, and you’ll find a well curated wall of staff recommended books when you walk in.
They’ll be hosting readings with unpublished poets, next Spring. There’s also a new book club, destined to be a great neighbourhood thing. So, this shop sells books and supports readers and writers. Yeh.
You’ll find the Poet’s Department tucked in at the back of the store. Here I found something special: Some Lines of Poetry: From the Notebooks of bp Nichol (2024, Edited by Derek Beaulieu & Gregory Betts). bp was my first writing teacher when I was still a kid, and he encouraged me to keep writing. Brilliant poet, humble genius; so funny. Left us too soon. Hats off to you, dear teacher.
4110 Main Street
Next door to the book shop is the meat shop. Hey. Writers need to eat, and this place has the bone, and the broth. Windsor Meats started on Main in 1946 by George Freeman, and it’s been owned and operated by the family since. If you are a writer, and a meat eater, there’s beef (ribs, steaks, aged steaks, burgers etc), seasoned chicken, pork roll (stuffed with Italian seasoning), an array of sausage, and more. The butchers here (“The Meat Men on Main”) are still the pros at the prep, and they put a lot of love in.
Windsor supplies the weekly meat draw at Hero’s Welcome (the old Canadian Legion down the street) where proceeds support a different charity every month. Yeah!
3934 Main Street
Do you love paper, and well-designed stationery for modern times? Do you prefer a little wry humour in your greeting cards? Want the person who gets the card to get a fine lapel button as well? Require cool pens in a variety of colours and shades? Desperately seeking a journal to record all your powerful feelings about the concert? (They sell the locked kind here, with the key). And what about a little book? If so, visit Regional Assembly. (They also do online orders).
Regional Assembly has beautiful wrapping paper for that book you just bought that would work well with a bag of coffee beans for the perfect writer gift. Don’t forget to visit the lower case reading room…a small reading room filled with small books, and big generosity. You can read more about it here. See you at the letter-writing club.
Wrap Up
Thanks for shopping some of the small businesses on Main Street Vancouver. With high rents and other challenges, these small indy wonders somehow survive in my home town. A lot of us love these great places, and we all know that these great shops, and others, help shape our neighbourhoods. We’re grateful you’re here.
As Taylor’s ancestor, that other beloved wordsmith, Jonathan Swift* said, three hundred years ago: “Vision is the Art of seeing Things invisible.” By invisible, I think Jonathan may have meant: the world you pass through every day, when you’re on your way someplace else…
Thanks for stopping.
*Jonathan Swift. Thoughts on various subjects (Further thoughts on various subjects) (1745)
Vancouver is located on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.