Victor Schukov
Published Nov 09, 2023

Susan Chambers was born in England, outside Southampton, on the south coast. She came to Toronto in 1982 and worked in the banking industry until she was replaced by computer technology.

In 1998, she opened up a bookstore in Oshawa:

“I always loved reading books, I love seeing them, smelling them, and touching them. I also hate computers,” she said, laughing. It was not long after that she started to sell all sorts of “British stuff, “so she naturally called the store Paraphernalia Books ‘N’ Stuff.

“It was not my intention. I used to be just a used bookstore, but people would come in and hear my accent and say, ‘Oh, do you have chocolates from UK, sell anything from UK?’ so I added jams, marmalades, biscuits, tea, digestives, t-shirts, pins and some UK souvenirs.”

She also has a whole lot of UK pop and rock band paraphernalia, not by coincidence: “In my last six years in Oshawa, I was next door to a record store.”

Last February, she moved to Belleville and four months ago reopened the shop — a labour of love — downtown.

She continues to offer a large selection of used books, along with home décor, jigsaw puzzles, mugs, glassware, and metal signs. Mostly, it’s just so much fun to browse and chat with the cheery owner behind the counter, like an old friend.

According to Sue, although Belleville is not such a big base for British as it was 15 years ago, she always maintains that if you like chocolate and tea and jams, you don’t have to be British anymore, to appreciate how good they are.

“I love the people, here. I like talking. I am interested in them. I like to know where they came from. I am kind of nosey. I like to find out about them, and the biggest thing is with my own store I can do that. If I worked for someone else, the management would not like me because I never shut up,” she said, laughing. (She also loves to laugh.)

“Over the years, people have said to me, ‘When I retire, I would like to do this or when I have some money.’ I say to them you can’t wait for either of those things. You’re never going to make a lot of money in a bookstore, but if you do what you love doing, it gives you a reason to get up in the morning, so start early in your life.”

And she has another message for Belleville people:

“Just come in and find me. You don’t have to buy anything. Come in and say hi. Just say, ‘Welcome to Belleville,’ so I can smile and say hello and thank you (and chat.)”

FYI – Her prices include taxes because “I am not smart enough to calculate that. (Laughing) I have my accountant figure it out at the end of the year. That way it’s much more civilized.”

Website: https://parabooks.square.site/

Paraphernalia Books ‘N’ Stuff is located at 306 Front Street.