[URBAN NOTE] "Munro’s Books co-founder Jim Munro was a champion of arts and culture"
The Globe and Mail's Paul Willcocks gives an elegy for a notable independent bookseller in Victoria, British Colombia.
Jim Munro, who died suddenly at his Victoria home on Nov. 21 at 87, created one of the world’s great bookstores in a city of fewer than 400,000 people.
Munro’s Books, with its beautiful historic interior, carefully selected stock and storied staff and service, is a destination for bibliophiles. Earlier this year, National Geographic listed it as No. 3 on a list of the world’s top 10 destination bookstores. That was only the latest in a string of accolades from across Canada and around the world.
But in Victoria, Mr. Munro was much more than a store owner, even a celebrated one.
Mr. Munro did things. When he saw problems he brought people together to fix them. He pushed projects that he believed mattered to the community, from heritage conservation to the arts. Stylish, with a tidy white beard and sharp blazers, smart, generous, modest and charming, Mr. Munro was very much at the centre of life in Victoria.
“He had friends in all ideologies and parties and sectors,” says Dave Hill, who spent 38 years working with Mr. Munro. Mr. Munro’s broad personal interests connected him with a wide range of people - including owners of small businesses, writers, artists, musicians - and his enthusiasm helped bring them together, Mr. Hill says.
Jim Munro, who died suddenly at his Victoria home on Nov. 21 at 87, created one of the world’s great bookstores in a city of fewer than 400,000 people.
Munro’s Books, with its beautiful historic interior, carefully selected stock and storied staff and service, is a destination for bibliophiles. Earlier this year, National Geographic listed it as No. 3 on a list of the world’s top 10 destination bookstores. That was only the latest in a string of accolades from across Canada and around the world.
But in Victoria, Mr. Munro was much more than a store owner, even a celebrated one.
Mr. Munro did things. When he saw problems he brought people together to fix them. He pushed projects that he believed mattered to the community, from heritage conservation to the arts. Stylish, with a tidy white beard and sharp blazers, smart, generous, modest and charming, Mr. Munro was very much at the centre of life in Victoria.
“He had friends in all ideologies and parties and sectors,” says Dave Hill, who spent 38 years working with Mr. Munro. Mr. Munro’s broad personal interests connected him with a wide range of people - including owners of small businesses, writers, artists, musicians - and his enthusiasm helped bring them together, Mr. Hill says.