Dan Rothon recently opened his bookstore Coyote Indie Books in Lake Country.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Dan Rothon

The owner of a new Lake Country bookstore believes in the power of a tactile reading experience.

Dan Rothon recently opened his bookstore Coyote Indie Books in Lake Country at 10074 BC-97 in February. He had a bookstore in Grand Forks with the same name for the previous year and a half but a move was in order.

“Where I was at was dwindling a bit as far as retail and what was going on, and I saw … the Okanagan as a bit of a better opportunity,” he said.

While bookstores have struggled for years due to competition from both online retailers and ebooks, Rothon believes they will never completely vanish.

“There’s a certain amount of calculated risk in it, but at the end of the day as long as I’m making a living, it’s not really dollars and cents to me. Otherwise, I’d probably still be working in bookstores for someone other than myself.”

Also, books a different experience.

"It’s not the same to look at a picture of a great piece online as to go see it in person and I think there’s a lot of artistry involved in what the end products look like," he said. "I think people like to have something that’s tangible and that they can flip through and feel a sense of connection to the author."

READ MORE: Kelowna's Mosaic Books was well-positioned for the pandemic

Since opening, he’s found lots of local support from residents in Vernon, Kelowna and Coldstream.

People are always ordering best sellers and residents seem to have an interest in contemporary fiction and the classics, as well as camping and cooking, he said.

The bookstore is smaller in size than his previous shop and geared towards the outdoor explorer with gifts and books like John Muir's Our National Parks and Jack London's Call of the Wild.

“There (are) still a lot of bestsellers and other things available that are similar to (Mosaic Books) or Indigo but I’ve tried to make it more of a cozy one-stop-shop experience,” he said.

Prior to owning a bookstore, he worked in Chapters and Indigo and completed Okanagan College's Diploma in Writing and Publishing. 

“I’ve always had a deep connection to it, so I can’t really see myself doing anything else,” Rothon said.

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