Book love

I typically meet the folks I profile at local coffeeshops but when it’s time to profile the owner of an independent bookstore during the first week in their new location, you bet we met at the bookstore. Dan MacDonald, owner of Bookmark, graciously and generously shared his time with me as we tucked away to chat in a back office not yet fully unpacked from the move. “Our team worked really hard to get everything out from the old location and set up in this new space.”

As a fellow booklover, I loved hearing that Dan also has the dual hobbies of both buying books and reading books. We agreed that those are two different hobbies!

When I imagine how a bookstore owner’s home looks, I picture piles of books and bookshelves everywhere. Dan corroborated this hypothesis. “There are piles of books everywhere!” While most of Dan’s life revolves around books, he also enjoys gardening, spending time with his large family (six children and 16 grandchildren!), and he has a small woodworking space at his home. “I enjoy woodworking projects, and I need to build some more shelves for all those books!”

As a life-long learner, Dan is typically reading multiple books at the same time, leaning into non-fiction subjects of interest and importance. “I’ll often have one fiction book in the mix while mostly reading non-fiction.” Dan always loved books and grew up in a home where reading was encouraged. We reminisced about the Scholastic Book Fairs and how exciting they were for us when we were kids.

Before becoming the owner/operator of Bookmark, Dan worked most of his life at the same company. He had two passions that he considered following when leaving the long-term job: owning a bookstore or consulting in small business. After doing the latter for a short time, he found his way to following that dream of owning a bookstore. “Bookmark was listed for sale in the same week that my job ended.” The serendipitous moment was not without its challenges. “There was a doom and gloom energy with the rise of online shopping, e-readers, and audiobooks.” Some people were skeptical about the longevity of brick-and-mortar shops selling physical books but as any booklover will say, “there’s nothing quite like having a book in hand, getting lost in the stories that fill the pages.”

Dan didn’t allow the challenges to stop him, and Bookmark continues to grow, now with three locations (Charlottetown, Halifax, and Fredericton). “I’m especially proud of the ways that we can support local authors in various events throughout the year.” When dreaming up what it would be like to own a bookstore, Dan said he didn’t really think much about author events, and now those events are a cornerstone to Bookmark and the literary community. 

Not only is Dan committed to supporting local authors through his work at Bookmark, but he also supports local businesses and suppliers whenever possible for all aspects of the operations of the store. “We are a beautiful community of small businesses supporting each other in this circular economy.”

With so many beautiful benefits of operating in a small community, Dan’s leadership at Bookmark is evidence of a familial feeling within the business world. “Our store and its patrons have strong relationships, and we get to know people who come here often.”

Though we may not get to see the storytelling side of Dan in our interactions with him at author events or at Bookmark, I had the great privilege to hear so many stories from him during our conversation. He is deeply committed and compassionate, generously sharing stories from years of owning and operating independent bookstores. From signature events like “Poets and Pints” to standalone events that bring national and international authors to the Island, Dan has done so much for the literary community. “We build our events and programming based on the types of things that the community asks for. We are receptive and responsive to the needs of the local writing community.”

Dan’s love of literature and supporting the literary community is second only to his curiosity and love of learning. He brings all these aspects together in the operations of Bookmark. “The opportunities to create and connect continue to present themselves and we are grateful to continue building the structures and supports for local authors.”