More Than A Bookstore…

The hardwood floor creeks as I walk around Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, perusing the displays of hardcovers and paperbacks. Their tantalizing smell envelopes me with promises of new worlds and adventure. It’s my idea of heaven.
Owner Shelley Macbeth greets me with a smile. I follow her around the store and listen while she changes up book displays and shelves books, her ear constantly tuned to the conversations of her customers, even while she is speaking with me.
Macbeth has had a long love affair with Blue Heron Books. As a mother working part-time in town, she would often bring her children to the bookstore for author visits and other fun events. Every time she was in the store, she would approach the owner and ask if there was a job she could do because she just loved being around the books so much. Finally one day the owner had a job offer for her. The owner knew that she was a banker but asked if she was also a bookkeeper. Macbeth didn’t hesitate. “Of course I am,” she replied, even though she had never done any bookkeeping. She knew she would figure it out. “Being the bookkeeper is the perfect way to know the business,” she says.
Macbeth purchased Blue Heron Books in 2008 and she hasn’t looked back. She has worked tirelessly to bring in the best authors possible for readings and promotional events. When she started, she was able to land a B-list author but only after she begged and begged and begged. Over the years she has built a reputation for hosting a good event with an audience that generates book sales. Now things have come to the other side, where publishers are calling her with requests to host A-list authors. She recently received a call asking her if she was interested in hosting an event with Margaret Trudeau. “Yeah! I really am.”
“We are really proud of our events. I think that’s what kind of sets us apart and makes us special,” says Macbeth. Blue Heron Books is a cultural hub in Uxbridge and all of Durham Region for art, music and literature. They offer one-day workshops, courses, day programs and evening programs. They also have a fantastic Saturday morning art club for kids called Inspiration Station, in which the children learn to paint like a famous artist. Before Christmas, the children researched Jackson Pollock, who always painted with really loud jazz music playing. “So there they all were back there with loud jazz music. The canvases were on the floor and the kids were slapping their paint down, flicking it onto the canvas. It was extraordinary, the things they created,” says Macbeth.
In addition to hosting author visits, Blue Heron Books gives local authors the opportunity to host their book launch at the store. “A big part of my belief system is to give everyone an opportunity,” says Macbeth. The majority of Canadian authors struggle to get their titles on the shelves of bookstores, and without independent bookstores like Blue Heron Books, many of those titles would never see the light of day. Independent bookstores play an important role in supporting Canadian publishers, Canadian authors and Canadian literature. “If someone comes in and asks me for a recommendation, the first thing I’d go to is a book that I love. I mean if it’s American I will tell them but I will always try to reach for the Canadian book first,” she says.
Macbeth was in a horrific automobile accident over a year ago that has her on a long road to recovery with more surgeries to follow. Not long afterward, she sought out Dr. Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself. Doidge has spoken at The White House, the UN, Harvard, Yale, London School of Economics and the Sydney Opera House. Macbeth really didn’t think that Blue Heron Books could land someone who had spoken at The White House, but she really campaigned for him.
“When I had the accident, this book was very … it changed me. It gave me strategies to work with my pain.” Macbeth admits the plan to secure Doidge was self-serving, but she really wanted to see him.
The accident has shown her just how important she is to the people who work for her, and her whole community. “The staff just plugged in and said ‘OK let’s do this,’” says Macbeth. A teacher/librarian suggested that they post on Facebook that the best way to help Macbeth would be to visit Blue Heron and purchase a book. The staff was not prepared for what happened next; it was like Christmas. Everyone came to support the store by buying books. There were line-ups of people, including the mayor. “Community was huge, staff enormous. It was totally a team effort that kept the doors open and things happening,” says Macbeth. “It’s still mindboggling; it’s humbling; it’s beautiful. It was extraordinary and I’m beyond grateful because … this is kind of like my baby.”