Coles (bookstore)

In the 1930s, two brothers, Jack and Carl Cole, opened their first bookstore near the University of Toronto.

At the age of 11, the Coles were living in foster homes in Detroit and eventually Toronto. With the little amount of money they had, they were able to open their first store (paying rent daily as they could not afford the monthly rent payments). With no retail experience, the Cole brothers turned their store into what was once Canada's largest bookstore chain.

Jack and Carl are also responsible for opening "The World's Biggest Bookstore" in downtown Toronto and as well for inventing Coles Notes.

Coles Notes began when students at a local high school were having trouble translating a french paper. Jack and Carl hired someone to translate the book and sold over 1,000 copies. From this idea, Coles Notes was invented. Coles Notes have sold over 80,000,000 copies worldwide, and served as the foundation for the similar Cliffs Notes which are published in the U.S.

In 1976, Jack and Carl sold Coles Bookstore to Southam, Inc.

In April 1994, Coles and SmithBooks, the country's two largest bookstore chains, were merged. The resulting company, Chapters, Inc., opened Canada's first two book superstores under the "Chapters" name brand in November 1995, but retained the name "Coles" for its smaller-format bookstores in shopping malls.

Since 2001, Coles and its parent company have been owned by Indigo Books and Music.

Links:

• Cliff Notes
• I know that Name

External links

• Chapters Inc