MEET OUR MEMBER: Beach reads bookshop

“Port Dover is a friendly town, and it’s lovely to have spontaneous conversations with people we know while bringing our A-frame sign out to Main Street and shopping in other businesses in town. To quote the author Kurt Vonnegut, ‘if this isn’t nice, what is?’”

Beach Reads Bookshop, a new and pre-loved bookstore in downtown Port Dover, will celebrate two years in operation this November. Thoughtfully owned and operated by partners Anthony Randall and Robyn York, readers love exploring this store’s wide section of books. We spoke with Anthony and Robyn about the store and their future plans.

Your location on George Street has been open for almost two years. Congratulations! Can you tell us the story of how Beach Reads Bookshop came to be?

The original spark for Beach Reads Bookshop happened in early 2020 when our closest chain bookstore in Simcoe, ON closed. In spring 2020, we were looking at the “Canadian Indie Bookstores” map and realized that Norfolk and Haldimand Counties was a relative indie bookstore desert. As a vintage bookhound, Robyn started working on a business plan to add a small retail used bookshop to her artist book publishing business, Anchorless Press, at their country property. An uphill zoning battle led her to look at vacant retail spaces in Port Dover, the nearby beach town (and Anthony’s hometown) on Lake Erie.

As luck would have it, an 800 square foot, mid-century modern house with commercial zoning became available in the heart of town and close to many popular tourist attractions, including the pier, beach, Lighthouse Festival Theatre, and Erie Beach Hotel. After purchasing and renovating the building, the shop opened during the popular Christmas Fest weekend in November 2022.

Can you share a bit about the store itself? What can people expect when they walk in?

Outside, the Palm Springs vibe of the store has been enhanced with the addition of vintage breeze blocks, a rock garden with yucca plants, and a seasonal palm tree. We have three parking spots (which is a big deal in a busy beach town) and are working towards creating a fully accessible building (currently using removable ramps at the entrance).

In the store, people encounter a clean, well-organized environment with tropical plants, mid-century modern furniture, and a wide selection (4,000+) of new and pre-loved books (a roughly 60/40 split). Our new section is arranged by genre and includes fiction, poetry, nonfiction, YA, and children’s books. Our children’s section includes a train table with and small table with felt food and kitchenware for pretend play, which allows the adults to shop while the kids have fun playing.

With Port Dover being a popular tourist destination, we stock a lot of gifty sidelines including stickers, bookmarks, puzzles, and art supplies. We also recently added a section of vinyl records.

Our pre-loved section is very popular with both locals and tourists. We receive quite a few drop-offs throughout the week—enough to make for a very busy day processing and stocking books on our day “off” (Mondays). We post images of our “new” pre-loved books stacks online on Tuesdays and have a devoted following. We almost immediately receive messages requesting that certain titles be put on hold.

What are some new or upcoming releases that you’re excited about?

We generally stick to reading our favourite genres. For Robyn, this includes thriller, mystery, and literary fiction, while Anthony leans towards sci-fi/fantasy and nonfiction. This allows us to provide a breadth of recommendations to our customers. Robyn is excited to read The Capital of Dreams, the latest by Heather O’Neill, as well as The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins. Anthony has his eyes on the updated and revised version of Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells and The Good Allies by Tim Cook.

What is your vision for the store’s future?

We want to continue to be a destination for locals and tourists in Port Dover, Norfolk County, and beyond. Port Dover is a great community, and we want to expand our charitable efforts by raising donations for local organizations—such as the food bank, mental health services, and Pride Haldimand-Norfolk—and sponsoring local events like the popular used book tables at the annual Summerfest and productions at the theatre.

We are supporting a local author and event organizer, Dick Bourgeois-Doyle, with his DoverWrites podcast, and are hoping to plan a literary festival in town.

What do you love most about being an independent bookseller?

We love connecting with people in our community and offering a local hub for readers of all ages and interests. We know so many of our customers on a first name basis and have formed some lasting friendships since opening the shop. It has been especially rewarding to see local customers order books through us and wait a week for them to arrive (instead of using a major online retailer who shall not be named).

Port Dover is a friendly town, and it’s lovely to have spontaneous conversations with people we know while bringing our A-frame sign out to Main Street and shopping in other businesses in town. To quote the author Kurt Vonnegut, “if this isn’t nice, what is?”