OttawaThe Book Market on Merivale Road will close its doors for good on Nov. 1. Its owner is offering to sell all 75,000 or so titles for a buck a book.The Book Market on Merivale offering 75,000 books for $75KCBC News · Posted: Oct 17, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoThe Book Market on Merivale Road will close its doors for good on Nov. 1.Owner Dianne Savoy has been selling used books for decades across 17 locations, but as she turns 80, she is ready to retire. One final location of The Book Market will remain open in Kemptville, Ont. Dianne Savoy has been selling used books for decades, but it all started at a new book store in Montreal. One day a man walked in looking to sell books he didn’t want to ship home to England.”We put out a table full of science fiction second-hand and they sold instantly, long before the others did,” she said. “[New books] just weren’t affordable to the public any longer.” Convinced, Savoy opened The Book Market and the chain soon expanded to include 17 stores. Now, just two are left: one on Merivale Road in Ottawa and another in Kemptville, Ont.Having just turned 80, Savoy has decided to sell the Ottawa location. It will officially close Nov. 1. The Kemptville location will remain.”It’s kind of mixed feelings about leaving because I’ve enjoyed it so much, but I think it’s time,” she said. Dianne Savoy, right, with her granddaughter Lexi Savoy at The Book Market’s Merivale Road location in Ottawa. (Nathan Fung/CBC)Family businessSavoy is now the eldest of three generations of booksellers in her family. Her grandaughter Lexi Savoy is the “mainstay” at The Book Market’s Kemptville location, she said. “It’s bittersweet because it’s been a part of our lives for so long,” Lexi Savoy said of the imminent closure. “Both my mother and I can’t really imagine our lives without a bookstore somehow being in the family.”She said one of the best parts of the family business has been “treasure hunting” for customers.”It’s really wonderful to help people find a book that they’ve been looking for — for decades in some cases — and to just go out and pick it off the shelf and show it to them,” she said. “Their whole face lights up. It’s a really beautiful feeling.” As for all those books, Savoy is offering all 75,000 or so for a dollar apiece. That means for $75,000, someone could start their own used book business.Owner Dianne Savoy is offering all 75,000 or so books in her inventory for $75,000. (Nathan Fung/CBC)’It’s my age'”It’s not that this isn’t a viable business,” Savoy said. “It’s my age more than anything…. I’ve had enough.”Savoy said many regular customers have dropped by to say goodbye. “Everybody’s really sad about it,” she said. “They’re very grateful that I’ve been here, and I’m grateful to them for coming in and keeping us here because the individual person who comes in and spends their hard-earned money is what keeps us all going.”Savoy said she now hopes to golf and travel in her free time. “I’m still going to read a lot, as you can imagine,” she added.The Book Market will close its Merivale Road location in Ottawa on Nov. 1. (Nathan Fung/CBC)With files from Nathan Fung
A ‘bittersweet’ ending for one of Ottawa’s last used book stores
