South Osborne mainstay ready to turn the page
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/12/2022 (1370 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Gary Nerman figures it’s time to retire, but he has about 103,000 books and vintage magazines to sell first.
The 68-year-old owner of Nerman’s Books and Collectibles has run his business in the South Osborne neighbourhood since 1996. He bought the building at 700 Osborne St. that houses his rare book shop in 2005.
But he got his start as a mail-order seller specializing in children’s books in the late 1980s, almost by accident.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Gary Nerman, owner of Nerman’s Books and Collectibles.
“I always collected antiques, and I started collecting books, and I got all these books — they’re called Whitmans, children’s books from the ’50s — so I had hundreds of these and I said, ‘How do I get rid of them?’” Nerman said.
“I just got an Atari ST computer… and it had a data program so I typed them all in and sent out catalogues and started selling them.”
Customers really wanted books in the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series, he said, and while he was working as a travelling salesman, he would stop in at used book stores and search for rarities.
“There was no internet, so nobody knew what stuff was worth,” he said, recalling the discovery of books worth $100 marked at $1.
“In the beginning it was just children’s books; at one point, I had the largest collection of used children’s books in North America.”
Now, Nerman said, he’s going to hold a liquidation sale in an effort to get rid of his stock — worth about $1 million, he figures — before the building’s next owner takes possession March 31.
Optimistically, he hopes to sell about half of the books he has stacked up in the small shop and in storage, and hopes a charity would be interested in taking the rest.
“There’s got to be somebody out there that wants half a million dollars worth of books,” said Nerman, who plans to travel and sell books at flea markets in retirement.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
The building’s next owner takes possession March 31.
“They’re good, we have a great stock.”
Erick Casselman, owner of the Park Theatre next door, purchased Nerman’s building for an undisclosed price.
Casselman hopes to open a new venture next fall after extensive renovations. He would not reveal much, noting plans with his business partners have not been solidified, but said it will be a separate entity — the renovations won’t include knocking down walls to expand the theatre.
“It’s something that’s been in the works for quite some time, and would’ve been done sooner if it wasn’t for COVID… it’s always been the ultimate goal, plan for the Park Theatre and what our vision was for the neighbourhood,” he said.
“A business that’s complimentary to what we do at the Park already that does have a liquor licence.”
Nerman and Scott Tackaberry, who chairs the South Osborne BIZ, said they think the new business will be focused on food and beverage service.
It’s another change in a neighbourhood that’s boomed in recent years.
“When I first opened up, the Park had been abandoned for a decade or longer,” Casselman said. “It was a lot of second-hand shops and what have you up and down the street, and now it’s more restaurants, more vibrancy, more people who are upkeeping it, fixing up the front of the buildings.”
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Nerman figures he has about 103,000 books and vintage magazines in the shop.
In addition to chairing the business group, Tackaberry owns GameKnight Games, Grape & Grain homebrewing shop and microbrewery Dastardly Villain Brewing Co., with a taproom under construction at 726 Osborne St.
“It will be a change — I think it will be positive,” Tackaberry said of Casselman’s new venture.
“Certainly the book store was an attraction to the neighbourhood, but I’m certain a new pub or new bar, whatever Erick’s got planned, will also draw people in.”
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @erik_pindera
Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Related Articles
St. Vital book shop to close
Advertisement Advertise With Us
Advertisement Advertise With Us
