Hull’s Family Bookstore turns 100

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This article was published 05/11/2019 (2192 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local Christian bookstore has stood the test of time and is turning 100 years old.

Hull’s Family Bookstore celebrated its 100th anniversary on Oct. 26. The store was opened in 1919 by brothers Hugh and John Hull, and is one of the few specialty brick-and-mortar stores left in the city.

Bruce and Sheila Careless are the current co-owners of Hull’s. Bruce said the store serves a very specific niche that you can’t find in most other places in the city.

“The neat thing is it’s a Christian book store. Most of the other stores of this sort have disappeared for various reasons. Hull’s is the only one that’s managed to endure for 100 years,” Bruce said. “We have a lot of specialty items that you really can’t find anywhere else in the city.”

Bruce went over some of the history of Hull’s. The store was originally a Christian publishing house, with the bookstore being a later addition by Hugh Hull. Hugh ran the bookstore, while John ran the publishing house until 1963, when Hugh passed the store on to his son, Wes. Wes Hull owned the store until around 1996, when he sold it to another family.

In the 1980s Hull’s had two main locations — a bookstore in Steinbach, and their main location at Carlton Street and Graham Avenue At the time, this was a prime spot, located between largest shopping centres of Eaton’s, The Bay and Portage Place.

As times changed, so did the downtown. Bruce said many of their core customers didn’t feel safe coming to the area so when they bought the business in 2014, they relocated the Winnipeg store to its current location at 1317 Portage Avenue.

Sheila said it’s humbling to be a part of this history.

“Hull’s has been so well known in the city. I remember when the store closed down (in 2014), I was talking to a friend who said ‘anybody who needs anything Christian, they think of Hull’s,’” Sheila said. “To be a part of that history, it’s humbling, it’s exciting.”

Sheila started out as an employee at Hull’s Family Bookstore in 1989. She worked her way up to becoming an accountant for the business, right up until the store closed in 2014.

The store sells everything from Bibles, Christian music CDs, and Christian affiliated books. Bruce said the store carries a broad spectrum of Christian materials, for every denomination.

For more information, call the store at 204-947-1365.