How Toronto’s oldest bookstore is surviving in an age of less human connection
By Julia Tramontin
A century ago, Main Street in the town of Weston was a quaint area. Trees dotted the dirt road on both sides, and farmland surrounded the area, sprinkled with buildings, including the Weston Library and Methodist Church. Today Main Street is called Weston Road. This area, known as Weston Village, is lined with towering condominiums and a hodgepodge of stores ranging from one of the largest Dollaramas in Ontario to a recently opened Osmow’s. Where stood Weston City Hall is now a Ward Funeral Home parking lot. The stores once on Main Street were lost to an ever-changing strip that sees retailers come and go. But one store has weathered the last century of rapid transformation. Housed in a former doctor’s office, a few doors away from the old site of Weston City Hall, stands Squibb’s.
Tucked between a hair salon and income tax service on Weston Road, Squibb’s Commercial Stationers is the self-proclaimed oldest bookstore and the third-oldest stationers in Toronto. Inside, the shelves are lined with a miscellaneous array of items – textbooks, flamingo pens, a porcelain shark piggybank. Sprinkled on the walls is store signage from a bygone era, with one declaring in an antique font that A.T Squibb & Son is “Authorized Dealer Sheaffer Pens.” A shelf above the cash register houses family pictures.
The last few years have not been easy for independent bookstores, with a global pandemic and technology boom wreaking havoc on small businesses. Family-run stores, like Squibb’s, are being overshadowed by industry giants that promise the convenience of online shopping and saving a few dollars. But what they don’t deliver is the traditional customer service that Squibb’s still offers, even almost 95 years after opening.
Suri Weinberg-Linsky, the owner of Squibb’s, flicks through a series of photographs on the computer behind the cash register that encompass a long history. “That’s my parents at my wedding,” she says, pointing to one.
Squibb’s has long been a family business. Weinberg-Linsky and her husband Michael took over the store in 2001 after her parents passed away and have run the store ever since.
The Squibb family bought the building in 1927, where they moved their stationery business after immigrating from England. The Weinbergs purchased the store in 1980, and it has remained in their family since. The store is relatively unchanged since it first opened as “A.T. Squibb Stationery and Books” nearly a century ago.
However, running Squibb’s has been challenging. Weinberg-Linsky says sales have been declining with the pandemic and the lack of textbook sales, the store’s primary revenue source.
One of her biggest frustrations is customers not understanding or having empathy for small businesses. “They’d rather give their money to a faceless monolith, like Amazon, because they’re saving $5 instead of supporting an independent business,” says Weinberg-Linsky. “It just pisses me off.”
Amazon, which started as an online bookseller in 1994, has swiftly taken over the publishing industry, with about 10 per cent of its almost US $300 billion annual income coming from book sales.
Another issue is online shopping. According to Statistics Canada, 82 per cent of Canadians shopped online in 2020, up from 73 per cent in 2018. Currently, Squibb’s does not offer online shopping.
“We’re an old-fashioned business. We talk to people. If you’re clicking a mouse all day, that’s not customer service,” says Weinberg-Linsky, remembering a recent exchange where two friends sent each other gifts through Squibb’s. “That’s the customer service that we do. That is the essence of Squibb’s. My husband and I love doing stuff like that, going that extra little bit for the client.”
One of those friends is Darlene Madott, a retired lawyer and author, who started shopping at Squibb’s a decade ago and now goes there regularly.
“Squibb’s creates meaning for me because of the love of the proprietor [Suri Weinberg-Linsky]. She knows all her customers. As soon as you engage in conversation, whether it’s about a particular book or a particular issue, it’s important sharing,” says Madott.
A 2020 Harvard study found a resurgence of independent bookstores by 49 per cent over the last decade because of a sense of community and the personal customer experience that local stores offer.
“It’s that magical door that when it opens, you know that everything is possible.”
Darlene Madott
When Weinberg-Linsky began running the store with her father in the mid-90s, Squibb’s had very regular customers. Every Thursday afternoon, one woman would come with her bundle buggy between noon and 1 p.m. If she didn’t go shopping that day, she would call Weinberg-Linsky and tell her that she was okay. Before she passed away, she gave the Linksys a writing desk, which they still have today. “She was a tiny little bird of a lady,” remembers Weinberg-Linsky, “but she had a big heart.”
Weinberg-Linsky’s favourite job is talking to customers. “I’m just a big believer in community and being part of it. Those are sort of the things that drive me personally,” she says. “We exist because we don’t compete with Chapters, Walmart or Costco. They compete with me. I was here first. I’m going to give them the customer service that you can’t give.”
Squibb’s is also part of the area’s historic charm. Weston, founded in 1796, is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Toronto. Community members say that older businesses, including Squibb’s, are essential for keeping Weston’s history alive.
“The history of Weston makes Weston unique,” says Cherri Hurst, President of the Weston Historical Society. “These small businesses continue the uniqueness of Weston. Suri is so involved in the community and so willing to help. I think it has had an amazing impact on Weston, just for being a little bit different than all the other stores on the street.”
For Weinberg-Linsky, Squibb’s is an example of the importance of supporting local businesses, which she says is her mantra. “Mainstreet retail is vital for any community. If you don’t support your main street, then you can’t complain that there’s nowhere to shop,” she says.
Darlene Madott says that Squibb’s gives her hope. “It’s that magical door that when it opens, you know that everything is possible. That’s the reason I go at least once a week.”