He may have started out as a child manning the counter at his grandfather’s book store, but now he oversees a major locally-owned publishing company while sneaking some pieces of Collingwood’s history in between the pages of his books.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we sat down with James Saunders, vice president of direct sales and publisher at Saunders Book Company.
Q: How long have you lived in Collingwood?
A: My whole life. That’s an easy one. (laughs)
Except for when I went away to university, I’ve lived in Collingwood my whole life.
Q: What schools did you go to?
A: I went to Mountainview and CCI (Collingwood Collegiate Institute). I ended up at Wilfred Laurier University for political science and business.
Q: What drew you to political science and business?
A: I think it was just an interesting area for me because of my family business, Saunders Book Company.
I always had an interest in that business and thought I would be involved in some way.
Q: Can you tell me about the business?
A: My uncle started the book side of things in 1963 on his own selling books to schools and public libraries.
It evolved out of my grandfather’s business. In 1945, he came back from the Second World War and started a photography studio. He was a photographer in Collingwood for many years. Eventually, he purchased a book store as well. My dad got involved in that business in 1970 and had an office supply store on the main street until about four years ago when he retired.
It all kind of evolved.
I currently sit on a national task on the state of Canadian Publishing.
Q: Do you have any memories of growing up with these businesses?
A: As a kid, I can remember growing up in the store with my dad. In university, I started working more in the (book publishing side) of the business with my uncle.
As a kid, I remember setting up tables on the main street and selling books and being involved in all kinds of different community events through the store like the old Summerfest.
My family has always been involved in a lot of different things in Collingwood. It kind of meshes together, our business and volunteer lives. (laughs)
I can remember working in the store as a kid and my grandfather coming in saying, “Don’t lean on the counter,” and “You can’t wear shorts.”
A lot of these things get ingrained in your mind over the years. (laughs)
We’ve been a family business for a long time in Collingwood.
I have three daughters: Abbie 17, Olivia, 14 and Ava, 9, who are all very involved in the community in their own way and dance at Fleet-Wood Dancentre. My wife Lisa is the vice principal at Birchview Dunes.
When I went away to school and decided to come back, some of our friends said, “Why would you want to go back to Collingwood?”
Now everyone wants to be in Collingwood.
Q: For all the years you’ve lived in Collingwood, what kinds of changes have you seen the town go through in that time?
A: It changed from being an industrial town to being one that’s recognized.
I travel a lot for work. Years ago, when I would say I was from Collingwood, people would say, “We know about the skiing, but isn’t it pretty much an industrial town?”
I would say in the last 10 years it’s more like, “You’re from Collingwood? Oh wow, I love Collingwood!” (laughs)
It’s become an all-season playground.
Q: Does it make you proud when people say that now?
A: It does! It’s always a great conversation starter wherever you go. We’re proud of how Collingwood’s grown and what it’s become.
Q: How has the business changed over time?
A: When my uncle started it was just the family and one person going around visiting schools. Over the years, it changed into more of a book wholesale business. We started in Ontario and then started to expand across the country.
In the mid-80s, my uncle converted it into an exclusive distributor. That sort of set us on a different path. It opened a number of doors for us.
Now, we’re able to publish our own stuff and work on different things to meet the needs of the customer. We’re able to sell into the United States as well. We do trade shows and a number of different events across Canada. For 11 years, we’ve done publishing under the name Saunders Book Company, which is licensed paperbacks and French hardcovers. Four years ago we started our Beech Street Books imprint, which focuses on Canadian non-fiction. There are 217 titles in print right now, and we grow by 40 to 50 titles a year.
We named the company after my grandparent’s old house, which was on Beech Street, across the street from the United Church. They lived there for 60 years.
We include little Collingwood tidbits. In the logo, the address of the old house is hidden. In our Coast-to-Coast imprint, the co-ordinates of Collingwood are in the logo. We use a lot of Collingwood photos.
Q: You’re pretty involved in the Collingwood community. Can you tell me about that?
A: I’m the immediate past president of the Rotary Club of Collingwood. I just finished my two-year term in July.
Growing up here and being involved in business, it was always kind of ingrained that involvement in the community was part of what we were all about.
When I was in university, I was involved in a number of programs there, like foot patrol. That carried on with volunteer life in Collingwood as well.
I ski patrolled for a number of years at Blue Mountain Resort. Once my kids were born, I was kind of looking for something else to do. My uncle was a member of the Rotary Club many years ago, so he suggested it.
I got involved in that about nine years ago.
My big project the past two years, we call it our Legacy Project, we’ve taken our old property at 199 Campbell Street and about two years ago, we started creating a Common Roof facility there.
That’s been a focus for the Rotary Club of Collingwood for the past couple of years, and will remain over the next couple of years as well. We weren’t re-inventing the wheel... it’s based on the Common Roof (concept) in Orillia.
Q: What’s your favourite book of all time?
A: There’s so many!
I really enjoy historical fiction. I think it’s because I’m so involved with non-fiction most of the time, so when I go home at night or get time for pleasure reading while on vacations, I want to read something that certainly has a historical story woven through fiction.
I read a lot about the First and Second World War. They reflect the Canadian identity too.
Q: What does the future hold for the company?
A: It’s definitely challenging times with school and public library budgets being under threat by a number of different levels.
A lot of public libraries are going toward a learning commons route, so they’re the hub of a school.
It’s no longer a place where you go to read quietly. There are books, computers and maker spaces at the library. It may mean more digital products in the future, and evolving our publishing in a number of ways to meet their needs.
Q: What does the future hold for you personally?
A: I’m still a very active Rotarian. I sit on about four different committees with the other non-profits around developing what our project is going to ultimately look like.
It’s all part of my Rotary life. (laughs)
Of course, family, business and community are very important to me and I am proud to be from Collingwood.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every Saturday. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
