Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Was my understanding that a lot of the shops along Portage Ave-particularly the ones across from the Locks Visitors Center-have the same owner, hence the lack of variety. I do remember way back in the early 90s the store at the Valley Camp had an excellent book selection. Then it went thru a period where they didn't seem to have much anything at all. Has improved, nut not to where it was. Bout the only thin I see any more are the books from Avery Publishing (they print the Wes Oleszewski & Fred Stonehouse books). I liked the books from Freshwater Press (did all the John Greenwood books) any one know if they are even in business anymore? I know John died a few years back.

To add a bit more to this thread and my comments, one may or may not remember that years ago along Portage Avenue near the west end of town there used to be a store years ago that made up boat/ship shirts with special graphic designs on them similar to what one would find up at the North Country Embroidery store in Rogers City if you know what I mean? That store the one that used to be at the Soo at least, closed down many years ago now and there just doesn't seem to be any stores there that have or sell much in the way of ship design shirts like they used. I also recall that the Ship's Store at the Valley Camp would also sell those same type style shirts. One used to have all of the 1,000 footer designs on them and I have not seen that shirt in many years! My point here is that they just don't seem to sell much in the way of shirts related to ships and shipping like they used to at the Gift Shops at the Soo! I also recall years ago, a store at the Soo that had a very large collection of ship videos and dvds in town and they also had this at the Valley Camp store also. Things have sure changed now!

I agree with Guest's comments about maybe within about 5-10 years you could see B&N possibly shutting down some of their stores and keeping some but selling less products in them. With today's technology the way it is and with all of the tablets and I-pads, laptops and I-phones the book industry has seen dramatic changes in the past 10 years or so as Guest mentioned. I for one found this out the hard way last year. For years I used to buy an NFL Football book every year from my B&N store. In 2015 I tried to look for it at the store but it was unavailable. After doing a search for it, guess what? The book is no longer available in print form and now to view it, I have to download it from a pdf file onto either my desktop or I-pad computer.

As far as the Soo Gift Shops, the last time I was at the Soo in 2010 I was looking for T-shirts with ship/boat stuff on them. They didn't have hardly any shirts that were worth it. Even at the Soo Locks Boat Tours and the VC store, there wasn't anything worth buying as far as T-shirts that is. Things sure have changed at the Soo Gift Shops and even up at the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, they don't have much to choose from on their website either.

[quote="Tom Train"]One problem is people don't read books anymore. Ask people in the book business. Its our modern electronic times.
I for one, would rather read a book in hand, rather than on line.[/quote]


We have been in the book business for about 7 years and have seen a major shift toward ebook, Print on Demand, and Digital Short Run. Luckily we incorporated ebooks and the newer ways of selling books from the beginning. The loss of Partners has impacted our business, but not at the level it would have if we did not have other avenues for our titles. The book industry has changed dramatically over the past ten years. One look in a Barnes & Noble will reveal the general reduction in titles actually carried in their stores outside of their in house publishing companies and best seller selection. From what I have been told, a few years ago B&N eliminated their regional buyers and this severely restricted the ease of getting Great Lake related titles into their stores as it drastically increase lead times. I would not be surprised to see several B&N store close over the next 5-10 years with the remainder downsizing to much smaller retail outlets carrying a narrow range of mass marketed / discount titles. On the other hand, the emergence of Amazon on other online outlets has opened new opportunities for both book publishers and consumers.

One problem is people don't read books anymore. Ask people in the book business. Its our modern electronic times.
I for one, would rather read a book in hand, rather than on line.

Yeah, but the number of books available has declined, and will only get worse since Partners Book Distribution closed its doors in April. Many of these shops got their books from Partners.

Just walk along Portage Avenue by the locks. It's one gift shop after another..

Reading a comment in another thread about some of the gift stores in the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan area made me think about what are the current gift shops in that city that carry Great Lakes oriented books? I haven't been up there in a few years and was wondering about this as I'm planning to be taking a trip there next weekend. It seems like some of the gift shops around the state have been getting pretty much the same stuff lately from overseas and have been cutting back on their book selection. I was recently in Frankenmuth and came across some souvenirs that had palm trees and dolphins but marked with Frankenmuth, Michigan!