Madeline Bolen, founder of one of Victoria’s most-beloved bookstores and trailblazer for businesswomen in the region, has died.
Known by her friends and family as Mel, Bolen died unexpectedly on Wednesday. She was in her late 60s.
Bolen opened a small bookstore in Hillside Shopping Centre in 1975. After a divorce, the single mom of two young children decided to expand Bolen Books and worked tirelessly to build it into a successful business to support her family.
“She was a pioneer in early entrepreneurship for women in the seventies and eighties and took chances in expansion of her business in the face of competition,” said her daughter Samantha Holmes in a statement. “She believed in her community and their support of the independent businesses.”
Bolen expanded her bookstore four times before settling into its current 17,000-square foot space. She faced looming chain and online stores and took a chance that her customers would support an independent bookstore — which they did and do.
“She was very clear-eyed about things. She loved the power of a book to change someone but was also a very canny, very intuitive businesswoman,” said author Robert J. Wiersema, who worked at the store for 16 years. “She knew we had to focus on community relationships because that’s what a bookstore can offer that a website can’t.”
Wiersema said in later years Bolen would walk around the store speaking with customers, while her daughter focused on the management side. Bolen’s granddaughter, and namesake, also works at the store.
“Mel read a lot. Talking to her for any length of time would end in reading Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong,” said Wiersema. “She also loved supporting local books, especially about local history.”
Andrew Woolridge, publisher of Orca Books, said he recalls visiting Bolen’s first bookstore as a kid and learning about Tolkien and other influential writers.
“Victoria is lucky to have such a vibrant local bookseller industry,” said Woolridge, noting Bolen deserves much of the credit. “As a supporter of local writers and publishers, she was amazing.”
Bolen was humble about her accomplishments and shied away from the spotlight. In 2003, she told the Times Colonist, “I still don’t really see what I’ve done. I don’t see me as a hero. I just see me as someone who goes to work.”
Bolen was raised on a farm in rural Saskatchewan with seven siblings. She was married and divorced twice. Her partner John Smith died three years ago, “and she missed him everyday after,” said Holmes. Bolen has two children, Samantha and Timothy, and grandchildren Madeline and Calvin.
Holmes said her mother loved to travel. She visited every continent, “her last being Antarctica, where she was enamoured by the penguins,” and found kinship in a love of art and antiques with her travelling friend Ernest Marza.
Bolen’s death comes one month after fellow local bookstore legend Jim Munro died on Nov. 21. Munro co-founded Munro’s Books on Government Street with his former wife, writer Alice Munro, in 1963.
“It’s a new generation [operating the stores] but there is also a tremendous history and institutional legacy still there,” said Wiersema. “Mel had the foresight to continue this legacy. ... I’m going to miss her very much,” he said.
Bolen Books has a book of condolences for customers and friends of its founder to share memories and thoughts for the family and staff.
