Whistler’s beloved Armchair Books sold to longtime staffer

Whistler’s beloved bookstore, Armchair Books, is officially turning the page on a new chapter.

After four decades with his family at the helm, owner Dan Ellis has finalized a deal to sell Whistler’s only book shop to longtime assistant manager, Sarah Temporale, who first joined the store part-time in 2013.

“I love this job, I’m happy to come to work every day. I love the customers. I love being surrounded by books. I love everything about it,” Temporale, 39, said. “It’s a pretty big honour to be asked and offered this opportunity. I don’t take it lightly. It’s important to me to be able to continue the legacy that Dan and his family have built over 41 years. It’s a big responsibility, and I want to be able to keep that going and see it through to its next chapter. Pun intended.”

For Ellis, who took over the shop from his mom in 1999, the decision to sell was largely motivated by his recent birthday.

“There’s no hard reason apart from the fact that I just turned 60 and I always said to myself, ‘I’d like to be free and able to travel while I’m still young,’” he recalled. “Sarah and I talked two or three years ago about this possibly happening. It was light conversation at the time, but as time went on, that conversation got a bit more serious. For both of us, I think it made sense, because I was nearing that 60-year-old mark, and because she’s capable of running the store. I felt good about her taking over and me stepping away.”

Almost from the moment it launched in 1982 in the still-nascent village, out of the tiny, 300-square-foot space that now houses the store’s children’s section, Armchair Books has been a local institution that always put customers first. Ellis, who has fielded big-money offers for the store over the years, said it was important to maintain the intimacy and customer service that the shop has long been known for.

“This store has always been a family-run business and personal touch is important. It’s what has been our success: being able to know people’s names when they come in, not some corporate entity that treats customers as numbers,” he said. “We know our customers. We know their names. We know their kids. That kind of mindset has allowed us to be successful and be here for 41 years. Sarah knows those customers and she’s been with us now for a decade, and she’s able to continue serving customers the way they should be treated.”

For her part, Temporale wanted to assure customers near and far that nothing is going to change at the shop from that standpoint.

“The face may change behind the counter­—well, I guess it won’t because I’ve been here for 10 years—but the soul of the business isn’t going to change. The customer service isn’t going to change,” she said. “Everything [customers] have come to love and know and expect from this bookstore, that will all be the same. I’m going to do everything in my power to preserve this amazing legacy that I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of and now to take the reins of. It’s exciting.”

Looking back over her time at the shop, one trend Temporale has noted is the growing demand for children’s books, which she estimated now outnumber adult book sales three to one.  

“Our kids’ sections is huge and growing. That’s probably the biggest section of the whole store,” she explained. “That’s pretty cool because you’re raising a generation of readers that are going to become future customers on [the adult] side of the store.”

Temporale also plans to build on Armchair’s emphasis on free delivery, something that has grown in recent years, ideally growing that service beyond just Whistler and Squamish, and into Pemberton.

For Ellis, the thing he’ll miss the most should come as no surprise to anyone who has been frequenting the shop over the years.

“I’m of two minds about this whole thing: I want to make a departure and try something new, whatever that may be. I will definitely miss the contact I’ve had with customers over the years. It’s the best part of this job. I’m grateful to all of them, and for their loyalty,” he said. “I feel good about it down the road. In a few weeks, months, whatever, will I miss it? Yeah, I will. Will I regret it? I don’t think so.”

Learn more at whistlerbooks.com.