Building a Bookstore
Our Story
We are Cliff and Hilary Atleo, a Nuu-Chah-Nulth/Tsimsian academic and an Anishinaabe/Settler bookseller and the owners of Iron Dog Books. We moved to Vancouver in 2016 but before that we were a grad student and a bookshop clerk in a mid sized Canadian city. We were students and readers which meant that books were essential to our lives, but as Indigenous people we rarely saw ourselves reflected in the shops we visited. More often than not we struggled to source books we needed, or to convince the folks around us that Indigenous stories were important to the literary canon. Our experiences taught us that if we wanted our dream bookstore to exist, we would have to build it ourselves.
A Food-for-the-Brain Truck
We founded Iron Dog Books in 2017 as Vancouver’s first modern-day mobile bookstore. We envisioned the moving shop as an affordable and accessible response to expensive leases and the large swaths of the lower mainland that weren’t served by independent bookstores. Our truck was truly a labour of love, with custom built shelving, dark stained wood, and a lot of creative problem solving to deal with the challenges of selling books year-round in a bookshop on wheels. Our first day of sales was in late November, and after a very hard winter and an exhilarating summer of events we were starting to understand the rhythm of operating a travelling store.
Changing the Plan
Our second winter in the truck brought home the reality of relying solely on our mobile operation. We wanted to build connections and increase the availability of books throughout the lower mainland but our practical experience taught us that a combination of licensing barriers, the weather, and the irregular nature of events meant that we weren’t able to foster the sense of community and reliability we wanted. After 18 months and two winters of traveling to different locations and building up a loyal customer base it was clear we needed to expand to a brick and mortar location.
Putting Down Roots
In the fall of 2019 we found the storefront we had been looking for in the Hastings Sunrise neighbourhood of Vancouver. It was central, easily accessible by highway and surrounded by an incredibly supportive community. We worked hard and fast to get our shop up and running before Christmas and we just made it, opening our doors on December 6th 2019. Our brick and mortar store became home to the experience we had always wanted; a place we could find ourselves amongst the shelves.
Owners Cliff and Hilary Atleo, on Independent Bookstore Day in 2020.
Of course, since opening we’ve been through all the trials and tribulations of owning a business, as well as the significant changes brought by the pandemic, social movements, political action and cultural change. Through it all we’ve returned again and again to our core bookshop values: community, empathy, intellectual engagement, and accessibility. It is our goal to create a place where folks feel welcome and books find the people who need them. Bookstores are more than just retail businesses, they are centres of community engagement and discourse. We hope to see you in the shop soon!