If you were hoping to stock your bookshelf in 2013 at the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s annual booksale, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.
The event was expected to run from April 11 to 20 but, to the dismay of bibliophiles across the city, a brief item on the RSO website announced that it won’t be happening.
According to RSO executive director, Maxim Antoshin, the biggest obstacle in 2013 is that they lost the use of the space in Golden Mile Mall out of which they usually operate.
“The mall’s been generous and great to us for many years but we need space year round, we need office space in Regina,” said Antoshin. “They were really, really nice to us. And I cannot complain about the mall. It’s just business. They have to do what they have to to survive. We’ve looked at other opportunities, looked at other malls, but they’re all in the same situation. It’s hard for them to donate space.”
He went on to note that the 2012 sale also fell short of expectations.
“This year on the book sale, we were $20,000 below budget on revenue. Though we still made a huge amount for the symphony.
“It’s unfortunate because all the people who work on [the book sale] are very dedicated people,” he said, adding later, “This book sale is happening because of the volunteers. If you convert [volunteer hours] into dollars, do that calculation and you don’t make any money.”
When asked if this means that the book sale is over forever, Antoshin replied, “We cannot say that for sure. We’re still looking into different options and anything can happen. At this point it was safer not to budget for the book sale. And, by the way, the mall is still very generous because we still have a lot of stuff we’ve stored there.”
As for those books they have left over and will have to move out, apparently the RSO will be donating them to the Life Long Learning Centre.
