A bookstore that's been a Halifax institution since 1987 is facing closure

An iconic Halifax bookstore may be forced to close permanently if the business is unable to raise enough money to catch up on rent by Friday.

John W. Doull, Bookseller has been an institution in the city since 1987. It specializes in rare and out-of-print books, but carries a wide selection of literature on almost every topic imaginable.

The used bookstore, which has been located on Main Street in Dartmouth since 2012, has a massive inventory that Doull recently estimated at 2 to 3 million books.

If accurate, that would make the store one of the largest in Canada. But its days may be numbered.

Doull didn't respond to an interview request Tuesday, but Jacob Smith — the business's only other employee — said they're two months behind on rent. They've been given notice by the building's landlord, Yellowstone Commercial Properties, that if they don't catch up by Friday, they'll be evicted.

Including next month's rent, Smith estimated the store needs to bring in $15,000 to $20,000 in revenue by Friday evening.

He was initially pessimistic they'd have any chance of reaching this goal, but after word circulated online that the shop was in trouble, he said business picked up.

"On Monday, we did probably $4,000, $4,500 worth of sales, so if we can keep that ball rolling, it'll be good," Smith said.

Prices on the entirety of the massive inventory have been discounted by 40 per cent in an attempt to draw in buyers and raise the funds.

Business has picked up 

On Tuesday, the store was as busy as Smith had ever seen it, filled with longtime regulars and new customers. 

Anthony Reynolds said his partner, who'd been coming to the store since she was a kid, tipped him off about the sale after reading about the store's finances online.

"She was really sad that it was closing and she knows that I love books," he said. "She told me it's like a maze so I definitely wanted to come and check it out before it closed."

Former employee Jane Sodero, who first worked at the bookstore when it was located on Hollis Street in Halifax, came down shortly after hearing the news. 

"It's going to be such a loss to the city to not have a bookstore of this magnitude," she said.  "Any book on any topic imaginable is available here."

Historian Holly Hanes has been a regular since around 2018. She showed up with a list of books, many of them long out-of-print, about Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador that she was hoping to track down. 

It's rare, she said, for historians to be able to purchase any of this material, which is often only accessible in archives. 

Future unknown

If the bookstore was to close, Smith said he's not sure what would happen to its inventory. 

He expects that many rare books and antiques would get auctioned off, but worries that much of the store's main inventory would be thrown out. 

Will Radford, the controller for Yellowstone Commercial Developments, said the company is willing to work with Doull if he meets Friday's deadline.

But he said it's not the first time Doull has had trouble making rent. 

"We're really hoping that, you know, he'll turn around the operation and be able to pay us money and continue to lease from us," he said. 

"If they can't pay the money at that time, then we would end up taking possession of the unit … and John Doull's business would be evicted." 

If it did come to that, Radford said in the short term, there are no plans to redevelop the property. Instead, the company would seek out a new tenant.