The Wandering Albatross

Exterior of The Wandering Albatross bookshop, corner of the building painted blue, with the name painted on it.

Just had my busiest weekend since opening last year. Met some great people, sent loads of wonderful books to new homes, pet many cute dogs. I love this little bookshop so much.

A flyer for a pop-up event at the wandering albatross bookshop

Doing a fun ‘lil popup at the bookshop tomorrow with Cult Records & Cinema and Christine’s Vegan Kitchen. Come get weird!

A tiny perfect gem! I cannot think of a nicer compliment. Thank you for visiting!

How an AI-generated summer reading list got published in major newspapers Newspapers around the country, including the Chicago Sun-Times and at least one edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, published a syndicated book list featuring made-up books by famous authors.

A big benefit to visiting local bookstores is that all the books we will recommend actually exist. www.npr.org/2025/05/20/n...

A newspaper article from the Picton Gazette dated April 30, 2025, features The Wandering Albatross, a bookshop in Bloomfield, Ontario, celebrating its first anniversary. The headline reads: “The Wandering Albatross – The Bloomfield book haven celebrates its first anniversary.” The article includes a photo of bookstore owner Lindsay Casey smiling while leaning on a wooden fence that has a painted sign reading “BOOKS” with an arrow, and a larger sign for The Wandering Albatross featuring the shop logo. The background shows bare trees and a clear blue sky.

My sweet little bookshop @walbatrossbookshop.bsky.social turned one this weekend, and @pictongazette.bsky.social published this lovely piece today! pictongazette.ca/post/the-wan...

So nice to be home and back in the bookshop after a couple of months away. Lovely to see so many new and familiar faces today, feeling very in love with my little book lair and grateful for everyone who has supported me thus far.

A 25% book tariff will be catastrophic for Canadian indie bookshops like mine. Please read @kingsbookstore.bsky.social's thread about this complicated, horrible situation and make your voice heard - the government is taking feedback until April 2. forms-formulaires.alpha.canada.ca/en/id/cm7upm...

My local bookshop has hit on an incredible business strategy: be nice to customers | Joel Snape It’s weird more high-street shops don’t behave like this. Friendliness is one of the few things they have going for them in the war against the machines, writes Joel Snape

I hope people feel this way about the Albatross, I genuinely love chatting with my customers & have met so many interesting people in the shop. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

That works!

A red telephone booth repurposed into a little free library.

Very cute little library spotted today in Salt, Staffordshire.

I think that’s exactly it, no North American sales rights seem to be more of an issues than lack of distribution options. I am hoping someone with some UK publishing insight chimes in.

Unfortunately, no. I do source from Raincoast and have the most success with them but there are still many titles from publishers they distribute that are not available through them. Seems to be more of an issue of rights than distribution.

I’m sure our small population and massive geography are to blame, but it is difficult for a very small shop to navigate. Even the university presses, for UTP I have to place orders for different publishers through different sales reps - to the same distributor!

So frustrating! I only opened the shop last year so I’m still learning how everything works, but my experience so far is that distribution is so much more complicated in Canada than in the UK or US.

I think it’s that there are no NA rights mostly. Here in Canada, we don’t have a wholesaler like Ingram, I deal with distributors or publishers directly.
I ask my HarperCollins, Penguin, Hachette and S&S reps for their own UK titles all the time but they aren’t making them available in Canada.

There absolutely is. It does my head in watching these brilliant books being released and not being able to stock them. Not to say there aren’t great books published on my side of the pond but the UK really excels in the subjects I’m most interested in - history & non-fiction travel especially.

Bleets! I like that! Let’s go with that.

Do publishers think there is no demand in Canada? From my vantage point in a small, strange shop where every title is hand picked, the books that I go out of my way to bring from the UK are some of my best sellers. Maybe I’m shouting into a void here, but hey, publishers, contact me. Let’s talk.

Regarding the previous note (what do you call these things here - not tweets?) - I am open to the possibility. I mean, what’s yet another job on the pile if it means I can stock more Dervla Murphy?

I’m currently in England, visiting bookshops is killing me. So many wonderful titles that I cannot stock in my shop in Canada. Why are Canadian sales rights so scarce? Do I have to become a publisher just to stock the books I really want? Would love to hear from UK book folks on this. 🤔

Two copies of The Atlas of Microstates on a pine floor

Fresh out of the box… very pleased to get this in, been looking forward to it!

Hmmm, that IS on my list. Good suggestion!

Flying Toronto > Dublin on Saturday. What should I read on the plane?

First shop email newsletter going out this morning. Is it supposed to be this nerve-wracking?

A copy of the book Custodians of Wonder on a cream coloured canvas background.

It’s the kind of dark, rainy Sunday that books and tea were made for. Like this new release from @stmartinspress.bsky.social - it’s such an immersive journey through time and place to meet the characters keeping some of the world’s most unique traditions alive. Loved it! #custodiansofwonder

Thanks!

It’s a quiet, snowy day here in Bloomfield, but it started with the sweetest surprise: a lovely couple waiting for me to open the shop. We had a nice chat, and they left with a stack of books & a gift card for someone special - exactly the kind of moment I dreamed of when opening the shop. Magic ✨

I am having so much fun helping folks with holiday book recommendations. Feeling genuinely touched that so many people are trusting me to help them choose the perfect book.

A copy of Wildlife Compendium of the world, help open to the “over the ice page”, showcasing illustrations of a wandering albatross, penguins, a snow petrel, a seal and an Antarctic midge. In the background, a bookshelf.

Picked up Wildlife Compendium of the World this morning and this is the page I opened it to. Totally unintentional. What are the chances?

How lovely! I hope Bob will stop in here if he ever makes it up to Canada!