Bill Duthie opened the first Duthie Bookstore n 1957 at 901 Robson Street beside the newly opened Vancouver Public Library. "Early on in my publishing career, I decided that I would be better off running a bookstore. But then I had to decide where to do it. I came out here to live in ’53, to be a resident rep for Macmillan, but I had told John Gray that I intended to open my own store here. He said I should get one near the new library. He always believed that people who use libraries use bookstores."
—Bill Duthie
“There was a loud banging on the front door. I opened it to find the one individual who had given me even the slightest encouragement, a droll, book-loving travelling salesman for Macmillan and McClelland and Stewart He knew more about books than anyone I had ever met, and his advice was enormously helpful. A year later I was able to return the favour. Bill knew little about the business end of retailing, and I was able to to be of much assistance to him when he planned his first store in Vancouver. I convinced Bill that he must have a cash register, something he resisted strenuously.”
Mel Hurtig, bookseller, publisher & writer
Bill always said that it was 'a sign of intelligence to move west', meaning the coast, and in 1953 Bill, Macie, David (1949), and Celia (1950) packed up the old chevy and drove west across the prairies and badlands to Vancouver. The family settled, with baby Cathy (1954), in Caulfeild and Bill established himself as the first resident book rep in Vancouver. His agency later passed to Jim Douglas, Scott McIntyre, Nicholas Hunt, Mark Stanton , Allen McDougal and now Kate Walker.
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