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'Even though she's handed over the store, this is her legacy': Book Cellar changes ownership

After over 40 years of running the Yellowknife Book Cellar, Judith Drinnan has sold the store to Jennifer Baerg Steyn, a prolific reader who plans to continue the legacy Drinnan built. (Alex Brockman/CBC - image credit)
After over 40 years of running the Yellowknife Book Cellar, Judith Drinnan has sold the store to Jennifer Baerg Steyn, a prolific reader who plans to continue the legacy Drinnan built. (Alex Brockman/CBC - image credit)

After over 40 years, Canada's northernmost independent bookstore has a new owner who says she will focus on keeping the legacy of community building through literature.

Jennifer Baerg Steyn bought the store from founder Judith Drinnan, who started up the Book Cellar in the 1970s with a loan.

Submitted by Jennifer Baerg Steyn.
Submitted by Jennifer Baerg Steyn.

Drinnan built it into an institution that delivers books around the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and serves libraries and schools throughout the North.

"I'm someone who travels specifically to see independent bookstores," said new owner Jennifer Baerg Steyn.

That's what brought her in the door of the Book Cellar.

Baerg Steyn started out at the store as an employee after moving to the N.W.T. from B.C.

"[Bookstores] are amazing institutions that are just essential to the community and I've really seen that here with the Book Cellar," she said.

"We have a system of roots that have spread out from the store that are hopefully bringing life to other communities with literature. We tell stories about ourselves … our communities and those things are essential to understanding who we are and where we are," said Baerg Steyn.

Books are a way to expand imagination and make sure that people feel seen and not alone, she said.

180 books in one year

"I have always been a very prolific reader," said Baerg Steyn.

One year, she read 180 books and spent all 12 months writing reviews for them, something that spurred her to imagine a future in books.

Baerg Steyn's personal favourites are science fiction, fantasy and young adult novels.

She's also interested in books on mental health, housing, incarceration and universal basic income.

Baerg Steyn has been a hospital chaplain, a dispatcher and of course, a Book Cellar employee.

We wouldn't have the book store without the years and hours of devotion that she put in. - Jennifer Baerg Steyn, new owner of the Book Cellar

During COVID-19, Baerg Steyn was deciding on where to take her career.

The change of ownership happened much like the Book Cellar's inception.

Drinnan came to Yellowknife in the 1970s to work as a teacher.

While working part time at a stationary store, she asked the owner if he was interested in selling.

"He said: 'No, I'm not interested,'" Drinnan told CBC News in an interview about the store's 40th anniversary. "So I sort of went away and was still thinking about what I wanted to do. But he came to me in the street one day and said, 'You know, I've been thinking about that, if you'd like to buy the bookstore side of things.'"

Last year, Baerg Steyn said she mustered up the courage to ask Drinnan, who had been thinking about a transition for the business, if she might be willing to sell.

"This is very much her baby. Even though she's handed over the store, this is her legacy," said Baerg Steyn.

"We wouldn't have the book store without the years and hours of devotion that she put in."

A few changes, but mostly the same

Baerg Steyn said that many features of the Book Cellar will stay the same, but she'll make a few additions, bringing in audiobooks from ethical suppliers, expanding the French section and introducing more non-book retail items.

Baerg Steyn plans to hire additional staff to expand the hours of operation.

When COVID-19 subsides, she hopes to host open-mic nights and regular story time for children.

"These are all fantasies that come in a world that's not COVID-distanced," she said.

"We really want to root ourselves as deep as we can with the community here."