Argo Bookshop is among the oldest retail bookstores in the city. We're proud to bring new choice books to the city of Montreal, from Jeanette Winterson and Fernando Pessoa to James Joyce and Thomas Bernhard.
Meaghan Acosta clearly remembers the milk crate full of tattered feminist kids books she dug up during a father-daughter trip to an NDG bookstore that no longer exists.
“That’s what I’m trying to maintain here,” explains the nostalgic 28-year-old owner of one of Montreal’s oldest surviving independent English bookshops. “Because this is what I always remember bookstores being like: a little messy, a little musty and you don't want to look in the corners. But there are always tons of books.”
Nestled between universities in Montreal’s downtown core, Argo Bookshop continues to prove its relevance to anglophone readers, writers and academics of all ages more than 50 years on – this, despite severe challenges to the book industry as a whole. “Despite everything that’s happening with e-books, Amazon, Chapters – and even waning attention spans – I think we can just about weather anything,” insists Meaghan, who, five years in, remains a firm believer that books find their owners and not vice versa. “I feel any place that’s pushing something on you isn’t a bookstore in that sense.”
The place “Where Montreal Readers Gather,” Argo is one of the oldest bookstores in Montreal and you’ll find it right on Sainte-Catherine’s. It’s tiny and full of shelves stuffed with every imaginable kind of publication, including an amazing collection of historical books. They also host readings and open-mic nights for new authors.