Intimate, warm-spirited party celebrates bookstore’s legacy
Feeling as gutted as the bookstore itself appeared, I expected to enter Macondo Books with an air of dread and sadness about me. How could a store so integral, so supportive of its community, just up and clear out within a few months’ time?
However, I was quickly reminded why it was so integral to, and supportive of, its community when I saw the seemingly endless and selfless trays of treats, cheese platters, bruschetta, and wine, lit up by gentle Christmas lights draping the store’s main floor. The warm, kindly atmosphere of the space felt like Macondo never really left – just that its cornucopia of stories had been put elsewhere for now. Adding to the joy, local musicians Greg Denton, Michael Kosir, and Bernd Licht performed casual, bluegrass-tinged covers of songs by The Waterboys and The Police, among other favourites.
Jacqueline Gilbey, employee of Macondo for nearly thirty years, reflected upon her time at Macondo via email. She had this to say:
“I started working at Macondo in 1989. A friend of mine was working there and let me know they were hiring. My interview was an informal chat sitting out back on the steps. Nancy hired me and I never left! It was the perfect environment for an English lit grad. I had graduated the year before from the University of Guelph, but was working in an agricultural lab and not really enjoying it. I love books and people, and Macondo immediately felt like home. It’s been a really interesting place to spend a couple decades of one’s life! In the 26 years I’ve been at Macondo, I’ve helped students look for their textbooks, helped them look for a gift for their girlfriend or boyfriend, then eventually children’s books, and then textbooks for those kids. It’s been a real gift to be part of people’s reading development. And, the fact that Macondo was a second-hand bookstore added even more charm and appeal to my experience. Every day we would see boxes of books come in – people moving or estates being sold, personal libraries being downsized. It was a surprisingly intimate look into the many phases and changes in a person’s life just by the books they brought in to sell. Or buy.”
Regardless of the future of the space or the store, it is difficult to imagine downtown Guelph without Macondo’s contribution to the city’s literary life. But, for now, we can bask in its fond memories and carry on its spirit, perhaps by buying more local books or donating the ones we don’t use anymore.