Chapters Indigo and a Delusional Rich…
For those that are not familiar with Chapters Indigo, they are a huge retail book store in Canada. Originally it was just Chapters. Then, Heather Reisman decided to open a rival, Indigo. With the help of her husband, who is in charge of Onyx Corporation ( A company that buys struggling or takeover ripe businesses. Lies and then fires employees so they can turn it around and make a buck.), she bought Chapters and made one huge monopolizing company that owns Coles and pretty much any other major and medium book store in Toronto and probably all of Canada. Even that World’s Biggest Bookstore in downtown Toronto is owned by them as far as I know.
My story begins many years ago when I was young and naive. I started a small business and went to one of these waste-of-time small-business-networking-and-lecture things. If you’re starting a business, don’t believe the crap the books and speakers tell you. The networking events are full of other small business people that are hungry for sales. You’re way better off focusing on sales and improving operations instead of listening to BS and meeting people whose only desire is to sell you something for money you don’t have. Think about it. Isn’t that why YOU’RE going to the networking event?
Sorry for the tangent. Back to my story.
The speaker at this particular networking event, held at a church near Yonge and St. Clair of all places, was our good friend Heather Reisman.
The following is a paraphrased synopsis so you’ll pardon me for not reciting it word for word. It was several years ago and only one point remains crystal clear from her speech. More about that later.
She started a sob story about how she was depressed after leaving her job at Coca Cola. “I was driving around feeling lost. I didn’t know what to do…” Blah blah blah blah.
Yeah. Just picture it. Her husband is worth hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions for all I know. She is driving around in her Benz or Lexus or whatever, feeling lost. I’m sorry lady but I just don’t feel bad for you. I’m heading home in the cold after listening to your drivel.
“Then one day I got the idea to open Indigo.” Got the idea? What the hell do you mean you got the idea? Chapters had the idea first and they were already in business. This should have been my first clue to her delusion.
So, I’m sitting there fairly irked by this point but she had more for me.
She went into how at Indigo you can sit and read a book. And this is the part I have never forgotten. “I think that in the future, libraries will become obsolete.”
What …?! Holy mother of… no wait I’m in the church. Did she just say that? Did she just say that she wants to get rid of libraries? Obsolete because she stole an idea for a book store and put in a couple of chairs and then had her husband buy out the competition so she could have a monopoly?
What in the hell is wrong with this woman? Are all rich people this arrogant and disconnected or is she on medication?
What about all those people that can’t afford to buy your books? What about the kids who need libraries to study because they have to live in a cramped apartment with their family? Or the ones that suffer abuse and go there because they can’t study at home? Are you going to loan them some books and invite them for tea so they can get into university, or is that just for your little rich kids, too?
What about society’s right to free knowledge without greedy little …. like you controlling everything we see and read? Putting their own political, personal, or religious bias on what can and can’t be said.
That was just too much. I can’t believe something like that would come out of anyone’s mouth. The sick part is that I could tell she believed it. I will never ever buy a book from Chapters or Indigo or whatever she decides to call it in the future.
Buy your books at small book stores if you can. Jut make sure Heather doesn’t own them.
If you think that that’s too expensive and you have to buy books online, at least get them on the net from some other company. Not this corporation whose delusional CEO’s goal is to make our libraries obsolete. Or better still, go to the library so the politicians that cut the funding this year get the message that we need libraries.
I don’t know what kind of dirty deal was struck to allow this kind of monopoly in the Canadian book markets. It’s not surprising but it is disappointing. As a society, we deserve better.
She finished her speech with this. “…so if you have an idea, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it better.” Let me get this straight, Heth’. All us small business people who have just invested most of what we have in our business should copy an idea, get our spouse to come up with a few million dollars so we can buy our competitors, then take over the industry. Okay. I’ll get right on that.
Actually there are two parts of that evening that stood out. The first was her crack about libraries and the second is that people clapped once she finished speaking. They actually clapped for her. Let’s all go and burn down a library after this! Yeah! (They didn’t actually say that but you know…)
Maybe it was out of politeness or maybe most of them weren’t listening. I for one was not clapping.
Still want more?
For those that are not averse to wading through manure, you can listen to a CBC radio interview with Heather Reisman at the time that the takeover of Chapters happened.
Some highlights are her talking about the major differences between Chapters and Indigo. The height of the shelves and brightness. Stand back! The creativity and stark contrast is overwhelming.
One of my personal favourites is her “commitment to the people in the stores”. Talk to an Indigo employee some time and find out what it’s like there.
Thanks for reading and whatever you buy, vote with your wallet. Or in this case, your library card.
