The bookstore at 41st and Dunbar seems to have been closed for years, but is now open.
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Lawrence Books has been a fixture on the corner of West 41st Avenue and Dunbar Street in Vancouver for decades.
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But it has also been shrouded in mystery, because it seems to have been closed for years.
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The books in the windows have faded from exposure to sunlight. So too have the handwritten signs that say “No! No! No! No! No Dumping! Do Not Leave Books, Papers, Magazines, Etc. In The Doorway!”
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It has led to lots of social media chatter about the store. A four-year-old Reddit post stated: “Seems like the owner passed away and the store is stuck in limbo. They must own the building too.”
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Sun Spots
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In fact, Anne Lawrence is alive.
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She has had three major surgeries in recent years, which led to the store being closed “on and off” for long stretches.
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But she is determined to keep it open. The “No! No! No!” sign has come down, and a new one has appeared on the windows: “Sale! Sale! Inventory Clear Out Sale!”
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Beside it is another sign: “Open Hours Sat Sun 1-5 p.m.”
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“It was always limited hours,” she explains. “But it’s just because that’s when the customers come.”
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Lawrence doesn’t own the building at 3591 West 41st. But rent was reasonable enough that she always paid it, even when the store was closed, and she kept the heat on in the winter.
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This means it doesn’t have that musty smell or vibe you often find in used bookstores. It also isn’t as messy — Lawrence Books is as orderly as one of the school libraries Lawrence used to run. (She worked at York House School at Granville and West King Edward.)
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Hardcovers and some paperbacks are in the main part of the store, mass market paperbacks are in an annex, and there are ladders to help you reach books on the top shelf.
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The catch is, the top shelf isn’t where the books end — they literally go to the ceiling. But the 70-something Lawrence doesn’t have to go up to the top to stack books. She leaves that to her 85-year-old volunteer, retired civil engineer Pat Meehan.
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Entering Lawrence Books feels like taking a time capsule to the 1980s, when her father founded the store.
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Joseph Lawrence grew up working-class in East Van, and rose to become a history professor at the University of B.C.
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“He worked at his first bookstore in Chinatown during the Depression,” said Anne. “One of my grandfather’s cronies owned the store.”
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After serving in the army during the Second World War, Joseph earned a master’s degree at UBC and taught at UCLA in Los Angeles before coming back to UBC. When he retired in 1984, he opened Lawrence Books.
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His wife Joan took over when Joseph died in the 1990s. Anne initially helped her mother, then took over the store herself.
