Courtesy
Marie-Ève White
By Nick Fonda
Local Journalism Initiative
Richmond’s stationery store, Papeterie 2000, has always sold books, however, since Marie-Ève White purchased the business last July the number of books sold and the floor space given over to books have increased exponentially.
“I’ve always loved books,” Marie-Ève says. “We live in an age of computer tablets and smart phones, which tend to induce solitude. Books, on the other hand, open us up to the world. They bring comfort, and they’re friends for life. Books can contribute greatly to making us feel comfortable in our own skin. They give us perspective and understanding.”
“At home,” she continues, “I have a personal library of about 1000 books. My kids have 400 books or more. They all give themselves an hour or more of reading time before they turn off the light at night.”
If it was a love of books that led Marie-Ève to become a bookseller, the path there was far from direct. Her paternal grandfather, Norman White, was of Scottish origin. He was a promising hockey player who was drafted by the New York Rangers. However, he declined a tryout preferring to pursue a career in music. He was a jazz drummer who got gigs as far afield as Cuba. Her paternal grandmother, Madeleine Delorme, had a strong entrepreneurial streak and a stronger work ethic. She opened her own restaurant in Laval and, for a quarter of a century, she regularly worked from 5 a.m to 10 p.m.
“I attribute my entrepreneurial spirit to her,” Marie-Ève says.
While she was strong academically, Marie-Ève did not find it easy to decide what she wanted to study. For a time, she thought of becoming a funeral director, drawn by the spiritual implications of the job. In Cégep, she tried Dance, and then Science, before finally graduating in the Humanities. At the Université de Montréal she began studies in Anthropology before earning a degree in Criminology.
“In Montreal, I worked with mental health patients who were living in transitional housing,” she explains. “Then, when we moved here, I started working with the Centre d’aide aux victimes in Sherbrooke. But after two years, I took a leave. I felt there was something missing. That turned out to be contact with a wider public. The work I had most enjoyed was in retail sales when I was a student. One of my favourite jobs was at Archambault’s where I was surrounded by books and music.”
It was one day when she was on leave from work that she stopped at Papeterie 2000 hoping to perhaps find a book. Michel Lachapelle, the owner of the shop explained that he didn’t carry many books because of the complexities of dealing with publishers and distributors.
Marie-Ève continues, “Then, he made a comment to the effect that a different owner might have a different attitude towards carrying books. I was intrigued and asked him if he was selling his business. Michel replied that he was thinking about it. I went back to see him the next day and we worked out an agreement. This all happened in the span of a couple of days. I officially took over on July 1 of last year. Part of the agreement is that I can consult with him for the year following the sale, and I have called him a few times. He’s been very helpful.”
“I have had a few moments of doubt,” she says, “when I wondered what I had gotten myself into. But they always passed quickly. I’m glad I acted as I did, because this way I know I won’t have any regrets, I won’t ever ask myself, what if?”
Another factor that prompted her to buy the business was travel time. She didn’t want to deal with a daily commute to work. She was looking for something in Richmond, where she lives
Since taking over the store, Marie-Ève has had one employee, Lysanne Burrill, who had previously work for Michel Lachapelle.
“I appreciate having Lysanne,” Marie-Ève says. “She’s experienced. She knows the store and she knows a lot of the clients. It would be difficult to be alone all of the time.”
At one point, Marie-Ève White thought that she might carry only children’s books, but she realized that there was a demand for books for adult readers as well.
“I won my bet with Michel,” she says. “He thought that nobody reads and that books wouldn’t sell. My first month, we sold 30 books, and we’re now selling 60 a month. I’ve been ordering 100 or more new titles every month. The books that sell best are Quebec novels and biographies, but there’s demand for a wide variety of books.”
(During the recent postal strike, one client came in looking for a book of crossword puzzles in English. He missed his daily crossword in the Record, which would otherwise have come in the mail.)
Papeterie 2000 carries books by four local authors. My own books have been available there for over a decade. Last October, Dominic Fontaine-Lasnier published Le Legs d’un philosophe amateur, Essai sur François Hertel, and Papeterie 2000 promptly sold almost two dozen copies of the book. Philippe Collard and Marc-André Dufour-Labbé are two writers who have moved to the Richmond area more recently and they have several titles between them available at the store.
Marie-Ève is conversant in English and Spanish but most often she prefers to read in French. Her reading is wide ranging but she does have a few favourite authors. “Dany Laferrière, Serge Bouchard, and Anais Barbeau Lavalette are among the writers I most like. However, just recently I’ve been reading a lot of books about bookstores!”
Papeterie 2000 still sells envelopes and office paper, but books represent an ever-increasing percentage of its sales. A small glass display case with half a dozen books has given way to solid wooden book cases with rows of books. As well, there’s now an attractive armchair conveniently near the bookcases that seems to be inviting the bookshop browser to peruse a few paperbacks before deciding what to buy.