A new chapter in the Chapters saga is unfolding before the eyes of Saskatchewan publishers. Heather Reisman, founder and owner of Indigo Books, has bought the struggling Chapters company. Reisman plans to merge Chapters and Indigo into one large company. With this merger on the horizon, Saskatchewan publishers are watching with anticipation for the future.
Chapters is the largest trade bookstore market in Canada for publishers.
Incidents with the company during the past year have made Saskatchewan publishers increasingly uneasy. Traditional bookstore policy with publishers states that booksellers can only return material from up to one year of the purchase date if it is unsold. Some of the books returned were purchased by Chapters during the company s first year in 1995. Publishers were unable to turn down the returns because Chapters was the largest marketer of books in Canada. This was viewed by some as a total abuse of their dominant position as the largest book market.