Coles is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 bookstore chain owned by Indigo Books and Music

Indigo Books and Music

Indigo Books & Music Inc. is a Canadian retail bookstore chain. The company was founded in 1996 by CEO Heather Reisman, wife of Gerry Schwartz, majority owner and CEO of Onex Corporation....

. Coles currently serves as Indigo's brand for small-scale bookstores in locations such as shopping mall

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

s. Some locations are operated as SmithBooks, and the company has recently begun to open selected small-format locations as "IndigoSpirit".

History

In 1940, two brothers, Carl Cole and Jack Cole

Jack Isadore Cole (businessman)

Carl and Jack Cole were two brothers who created the successful bookstore chain Coles bookstore as well as the world famous publication of Coles Notes. Jack and Carl were born Isadore and Carl Collofsky...

, opened their first bookstore on Bloor Street near Spadina Avenue near the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

. Prior to opening the store they had operated a "pushcart" buying up textbooks at the end of the school year and reselling them in the fall.

At the age of 11, the Coles were living in foster homes in Detroit and eventually Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. With the little amount of money they had, they were able to open their first store (paying rent daily as they could not afford the monthly rent payments). With no retail experience, the Cole brothers turned their store into what was once Canada's largest bookstore chain.

Jack and Carl Cole are also responsible for inventing Coles Notes

Coles notes

Coles Notes are student guides to literature, published in Canada. The Coles bookstore first published Coles Notes in 1948. The first title published was on the French novella Colomba by Prosper Mérimée....

. Coles Notes began when students at a local high school were having trouble translating a French paper. Jack and Carl hired someone to translate the book and sold over 1,000 copies. The original Coles Notes were typed up by Mrs. Alcorn, and produced by mimeograph machine. (Mrs. Alcorn stayed with Coles Bookstores as long as it remained in the hands of the Coles brothers.) Coles Notes have sold over 80,000,000 copies worldwide, and served as the foundation for the similar Cliffs Notes which are published in the U.S.

[ A third brother(?) split with Jack and Carl's book business to set up a sporting goods business, which did business under the name "Sole's", and was located down in the Yonge and Queen St. area. From signage and colour scheme the Sole's store looked just like a Cole's store.]

Jack Cole was an avid collector of Canadian Books, and in the late '60's ( 1967?) started an important project reprinting affordable, paperbound facsimile editions of scarce and rare Canadian history titles, such as George M. Grant's "Ocean to Ocean : Sandford Fleming's expedition through Canada in 1872." Previous to the Cole's edition a history buff or student either had to pay a premium for the original edition if it could be found, have access to the rare book collection at a major library, or buy an expensive limited edition reprint from one of the historical societies or university presses.

Not missing a trick, the Coles established ownership of critical trade names by establishing and registering their use in Canada. They published books under the banner of Walden Books, so when K-Mart wanted to introduce their captive book chain into Canada, they found that "Walden Books" was already registered and in use. K-Mart was free to set up bookstores, just not Walden Books. They followed a similar ploy by having stores doing business under the "Borders" name, as a blocking move.

In addition to the flagship brand, known for many years as "Coles - the Book People!", the company operated the self-proclaimed World's Biggest Bookstore

World's Biggest Bookstore

The World's Biggest Bookstore is a bookstore located in Toronto, Ontario, at 20 Edward St, just north of the Toronto Eaton Centre. It is currently owned by Indigo Books and Music.-History:...

 in downtown Toronto, as well as two other bookstore banners, Active Minds and The Book Company.

In 1976, Jack and Carl sold Coles to Southam Inc. In April 1995

1995 in Canada

Events from the year 1995 in Canada.-Incumbents:*Monarch - Elizabeth II*Governor General - Ray Hnatyshyn then Roméo LeBlanc*Prime Minister - Jean Chrétien*Premier of Alberta - Ralph Klein*Premier of British Columbia - Mike Harcourt...

, Southam resold the company to Pathfinder Capital, which one year earlier had acquired Coles' main rival, SmithBooks. The latter chain consisted of the former Canadian operations of British bookstore chain W H Smith

W H Smith

WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...

 (1950-1989), which had first been sold to Canadian owners in 1989.

By the mid-1980's there were also Coles the Book People! stores in the United States. In 1987 those stores were bought by K-Mart and they became Waldenbooks stores.

The merged company, Chapters Inc., opened Canada's first two book superstores under the "Chapters" name brand in November 1995. The smaller-format bookstores retained their existing names, but over time many of these locations have been converted to the Coles banner. A handful of SmithBooks stores continue to operate as of late 2008, but even in these cases staff uniforms and shopping bags bear the "Coles" name.

Indigo purchased Chapters, and in turn Coles, in 2001.

Trivia

Canadian singer Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

worked for two weeks, around the year 1964, at a Toronto branch before being fired for irregularity, because he could not be depended on to be consistent, as he tells the audience at Canterbury House, 1968.