Munro's Books — Attraction in Victoria

Munro's is the only bookstore in Victoria that matters.

They are very well stocked with current releases, and if a book is not on their shelves, their staff will go out of their way to find it. They will level with you about the cost, expected arrival time, and quality, and own up to any possible problems. If you are not pleased with your special-order book, you do not have to buy it.

For example, I once special-ordered a book that arrived with a creased cover. The staff contacted me about it right away, offered a substantial discount, and even sent a photo of the defect when asked. And when I decided not to take it, they were more than willing to get me another copy with no questions asked and no extra costs.

Another time, when a special-order book, a rather expensive hardcover, took much longer to arrive than the original promised date, they immediately accepted my request to cancel it, again with no questions asked and no extra costs. I subsequently discovered that the book did arrive and found its way to their shelves. I felt rather poorly about this experience since it made them absorb the cost of bringing in the book, but it made me an even bigger fan of the store and has since made me send their way as much of my book-shopping money as I can. Since I go to the store a lot, I also discovered that the book did not take long to sell. Clearly, they know their customers, know what they can and cannot sell, and back up this information with appropriate and fair store policies.

Yet another time, I tried to source some books from academic publishers, books that one would not normally find on the shelves of any physical bookstore. A very helpful member of their staff, Todd Craver, was happy to exchange many emails with me to find these books, suggest alternatives, provide accurate cost and lead time information, etc. In the end, with his deep knowledge and willingness to go the extra mile, I found every single title I was looking for. It's true that if I had done the extra legwork, I could have found these books online from various sources and likely for less money, but Todd saved me all the effort by putting together just a single order for me to pick up when ready. This experience in particular has made me a fan for life.

(I tried to source these same books from their neighbour Russell Books. They took weeks to even respond to my first inquiry and then wanted to charge the most exorbitant prices, almost double on some of them. Fortunately, by then I had already placed my order with Munro's.)

By the way, you do not have to pre-pay for special orders. Compare this policy with that of Russell Books, which requires advance payment and immediately threatens you with a 20 percent restocking fee for any problems that may cause you to reject a special order, even if the problem arises from their end. In addition, Russell Books does not issue cash refunds, only store credit.

And in case I give the impression that Munro's is valuable only for special-order books such as the kind I buy, as I said they carry current titles and you will almost surely find new books on the day they are released. They allow you to pre-order new titles, sometimes discounted, for payment and pick-up on their release dates; I have availed of this service many times. They also have a fantastic bargain bin that is fully searchable online and consists only of new and remaindered books for a fraction of the original retail price. No overpriced, dilapidated used books here.

It's really no surprise that Munro's has thrived for over 60 years. I wish them well and many more...

Stopped in a week ago and was delighted to find Dan! My very first job in a bookstore was working for him and his partner John, at the Curious Coho Bookstore back in Port Alberni when I was a new single mom. I am surprised Dan isn't in management! He taught me so much when I was learning the book industry. How to open, clean, do mass entry, enter items into inventory, order books and so on. I loved working for Dan and I loved working at Curious Coho Books. This was in the days before THE INTERNET, so books were a much much bigger deal then. And I lived for the employee discount. As much as 1/4 of my salary used to be spent on books! In any event, this is the second time I have been to Munro's since I have come to Victoria. I'm generally not a BRAND NEW BOOK BUYER kind of customer. The only brand new hard cover books I have bought over the last 2 years was 1. Harper Lee's Sequel to "To Kill A Mockingbird", 2. Norm MacDonald's Memoir: A True Story, and 3. Gary Kasparov's WINTER IS COMING in both hard cover and audiobook format. I bought all of those books and the audiobook at Chapters by the Bay. I have lately been hunting for the previous edition of Jordan B Peterson's book "12 rules" -- and that's what brought me into Munro's this past week. No Joy! I was however delighted that Staff immediately jumped to attention when I mentioned that I was in the market for another hard cover of Norm MacDonald's book. I loaned my only copy to one of my uncles in Langford. Unfortunately, the only edition now available for Mr.MacDonald's Memoir is in soft cover. Just Not The Same! I will have to be diligent about trying to get my original copy back... although as a rule, I almost never LOAN books. I give books away. Saves me a lot of grief and heartache that way. Yes, It means sometimes I never see a beloved old friend again (a book that goes missing because of a loan/gift) - BUT I am always confident that when I suggest a book to somebody, that they will enjoy and get a lot out of it. That's what working for Dan did for me. It taught me how to be one hell of a good librarian! In any event...I tend to shy away from most new books these days. Instead, I linger on older and older books. So Munro's isn't exactly the right book buying place for a customer like me. But the store has a wide selection. It's cozy and the atmosphere is welcoming and enjoyable. Staff are all knowledgeable and friendly. If they had a good system for ordering OUT OF PRINT books for customers, I'd most certainly be more interested in patronizing the place...

EDIT: As you can see from the response, the owner offered me a full refund. I was definitely not expecting a full refund, and I think that warrants a 5-star review.

Whilst I was very impressed by the selection and display of books here, I had an experience recently that I think could have been avoided. I visited the kids section and found a nice pop-up peekaboo book about the ocean that I wanted to buy for my toddler. There were only one of each copy out on the shelves and a sign said clearly “If you can’t find one, ask the staff for a sealed copy in the back” because id assume the ones on display was for people to look through. Two younger staff members were working on the display in the kids section so I approached them and asked if I could get a sealed copy. One of them - the girl - tried to convince me the sign only applied to ONE of the like 6 different pop-up books on display, although the sign clearly said “BOOKS” in plural, and referred to the different pop-up books below. The other one - the young man - literally took two seconds to pretend to check their computer for it and then proceeded to say something like “we used to have sealed copies but not anymore” and that the copy out is their only one. “But you can buy that one if you like of course”. Then they went swiftly back to whatever they were doing. I had a quick look-through and the book seemed fine. I bought it and left Victoria. I now realize there’s some gross smudge-marks on one of the pop-ups (likely a kid that would have looked through it with greasy fingers and touched the pop-up art). I’m no longer in Victoria to return it. I’m really disappointed because I could have ordered it online for the same price (the idea crossed my mind) and been guaranteed a sealed copy but I decided to support a book store instead (as we all should!). I think there should be clear stickers on “the only copy that is on display” that it’s a display only and they shouldn’t sell books that have been ruined by other customers. Also have a feeling the two staff really didn’t want to go fetch a sealed copy because they both seemed to want to...