A Vancouver bookstore with a long history of pricey court battles is seeking a buyer. According to Xtra West, Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium owners Jim Deva and Bruce Smyth are looking to move on after 25 years of fighting the good fight. The store is probably best known for pursuing a case against Canada Customs (now Canada Border Services Agency) – which had seized erotic literature bound for the store on the grounds of obscenity – all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Here’s Deva on the kind of candidate they’re looking for:
The challenge now, says Deva, is finding someone who’s going to “proceed and continue with what we’re doing.” There’s no one on a short list just yet, he notes.
“I just want somebody that will carry on, not with everything that we’re doing, but certainly [who can] appeal to a broad section of our community….”
Apart from that, he says, the only other condition of sale is keeping Janine Fuller on as manager — a position she’s held for 12 of the 18 years she’s been at the store.
For more on Little Sister’s previous legal woes (or triumphs, depending on how you look at it), see here (or here or here).
