News / Canada

Edmonton’s Ukrainian Bookstore closing doors before Christmas

After 98 years in the business, the 98-year-old bookstore in downtown Edmonton for 98 years, is closing because the numbers aren’t adding up.

Elena Scharabun, the third generation of her family to own and manage Edmonton's Ukranian Bookstore, says the store is really a place to go to for all things Ukranian.

Supplied by store owner

Elena Scharabun, the third generation of her family to own and manage Edmonton's Ukranian Bookstore, says the store is really a place to go to for all things Ukranian.

The Ukranian Bookstore in downtown Edmonton was a welcome oasis for thousands of Ukrainian immigrants as they climbed down from the train to begin their lives in Canada.

“How do you find a doctor, how do you find a lawyer, how do you make your land claim? Where do you find some place to live, or a job if you do don’t speak the language? They came to the bookstore,” Elena Scharabun, 56, the third generation of her family to own and manage the store, told the Toronto Star.

But come Dec. 20, after 98 years in business, the Ukrainian Bookstore and downtown fixture is closing its doors. It is one of the oldest in Canada, and just another bookstore ceding ground to e-books.

Brothers Michael and John Ferbey — Scharabun’s great grandfather and great uncle — started up the original store in 1914 “because that’s where the train station was, so when the immigrants came and they had no knowledge of English they would see a Ukrainian sign on the store and they knew there was someone there who could help them out.”

“It was a real gathering place way back,” she said.

Scharabun said the store had the reputation of being one of the largest Ukrainian bookstores outside Ukraine.

“We service universities and libraries around the world with Ukrainian language books,” she said.

The bookstore is really a go-to place for all things Ukranian. Edmonton has a large population of Ukrainian descendents still very much interested in protecting their language and culture.

“We carry music and giftware and in the last 30 years, a lot fabric for Ukrainian dance costumes. We sell a lot of egg decorating supplies,” Scharabun said.

“We’ve sent Easter egg (decorating) supplies to Papua New Guinea. We have customers for our Ukrainian books in Japan. We have customers in Ukraine who are looking for books that were printed there 70 to 80 years ago that they can’t find anymore. And anybody from Canada or the United States who happened to be in the area would make sure they always stopped by,” she said.

Over the last few years the big sellers have been children’s books and books of folk arts.

Scharabun said she has no real plans for the future other than taking three or four months off.

“I’ve been working here full-time for 35 plus. I had four sisters and we all worked at the store at one point and all the nieces and nephews have worked here at one time or another,” she said.

“The bookstore will be sadly missed but the economics just don’t make it anymore,” she said.

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