History

Established in 1995.

Started by J. Donaldson Ross due to the lack of an independent bookstore in Orillia, Manticore Books was sold to the current owners Michael Fredson and Thamara Laredo in 2013.  An independent bookstore that is growing with every year!

Meet the Business Owner

With years of retail experience, and many, many thousands of pages of reading, Michael is bringing a lot of new, hot, and interesting titles into Manticore Books.  People are always commenting on the great selection of books that is curated at Manticore Books

Read all about it: Independent bookstores booming again

When Michael Fredson bought Manticore Books in 2013, small, independent bookstores like his were in “recovery mode.”

For about a decade, starting in the early 2000s, e-books were all the rage. Then, like many forms of new technology, “they tapered off,” Fredson said.

“Any time a new technology comes out, that’s what it does — it captures a large audience for a while,” he said. “In the end, it’s more screen time for us, and we’re all getting sick of that.”

Fredson has seen business at his downtown Orillia store increase every year, and this one is no different. It’s a case of ‘what’s old is new again.’

“There’s a revenge of analog,” Fredson said, taking from the title of a David Sax book. “Print books are back in. Vinyl is back in.”

Not long ago, he said, it would have seemed unrealistic to think independent bookstores and record stores would thrive in the downtown of a small city like Orillia. To continue reading go to: www.orilliamatters.com/local-news/read-all-about-it-independent-bookstores-booming-again-1174839