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$38,799 H $26 PLUS! $278 905.845.6653 www.lockwoodchrysler.com Do r va l D r Ker rS t Speers Rd Wyecroft Rd QEW Oakville THE BIG DEAL LABOUR DAY WEEKEND THE END OF SUMMER IS A REALLY BIG DEAL. 2011 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LAREDO OR $138 2011 JOURNEY SE OR $146 GRAND CARAVAN CVP OR X PACKAGE! $16 $16 5 W ednesday , Septem ber 1, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m By Carlie Oreskovich SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER After 16 years in downtown Oakville, Bookers on Lakeshore Road closed its doors yesterday for the last time. The final chapter of the boutique book- store was quietly written this spring with a For Lease sign in the window and the operation wound up recently with a half price sale that had bargain hunters flocking to the store. Bookstore owner Vizma Sprott, who admits to having a special interest in books, said the building, which she had owned for 16 years had been sold, and she was retiring from the book business. She had indicated that the market had been changing and indicated that the elec- tronic book trend had hit close to home. It was a good time to close the busi- ness, said Sprott, 65. Sprott indicated she would still be involved in the work of the family's Sprott Foundation as well as her first grandchild. The Foundation, run by her daughter Juliana, recently gave $500,000 for Pakistani flood relief. For Bookers (now former) manager, Mike Doherty, 48, it has been an especially emotional time. He has been selling books for 20 years, running his own store in High Park Village in Toronto before coming to Oakville. There is no question he loves the tradi- tional book, but he maintains the bookstore business used to be a much friendlier place. Stores used to co-operate with each other, he says. If one store needed a book they could get it from another store. Now nobody is interested in doing that. Doherty is not sure if the demographics of the local area had a negative effect because of the high level of seniors and retired people. I don't know if Oakville is any different than anywhere else. There is a little more money here, and the 40 plus customer is by far the biggest part of the market, he said. He points out that a lot of teenagers came through as well. They still read, he said. Customers at Bookers could always count on personalized service. Doherty said books they featured came from sales representatives' recommendations, trends, and by far the largest number came from special requests by customers. Our customer service in general was very important. We tried our best with everybody. They also held a number of highly popular author reading events. Their author brunches were held three times a year and always sold out. They were favoured by publishers and authors because they did not readily return books to pub- lishers unlike larger operations. A comments log at the counter shows the strong feelings customers had for Bookers. What a sad announcement. What a beacon you have been over the 16 years, wrote one. Don't go! Sob! Sob! Will miss you so much. One popular author wrote: Will miss your store. Thanks for promoting my books. It's been great working with you. Another author: You've been a treasure for Oakville and an invaluable support to me and my books. I (+we) will miss you, many many thanks. Bookers closes the chapter on downtown book store CARLIE ORESKOVICH / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER ON THE SHELF: Bookers manager Mike Doherty has been selling books for 20 years. He ran his own store in High Park Village before coming to Bookers.