"The first year, we lost $3,000 -- we basically broke even -- and we've been profitable ever since," says Sharman King, one of the founders of Book Warehouse as well as a trombonist with the Vancouver Opera and a member of a local jazz band.

The company, which is celebrating 25 years in business this month, is still owned by two of the three original musicians: King and Tommy Banks, now a senator as well as a pianist. The third partner, Phil Shragge, who was a drummer, retired from the business a decade ago.

King says the musicians, all friends who found themselves with too much time on their hands, opened Book Warehouse to sell remaindered and "hurt" books at discounted prices after seeing a similar store in Toronto.

"We were just looking for a business," says King, 57. "The year before, we had three variety TV shows, but they all stopped when HBO was launched. We all got along well, and we thought selling book remainders was a good idea for here."

After seven years with one store on West Broadway, the partners began to expand. Today, there are six stores in Vancouver and one in North Vancouver, and about 60 staff. The tiny head office is upstairs from the original store on West Broadway.

The stores carry an eclectic mix of titles, all discounted by at least 20 per cent, from bestsellers to peculiar books that come in on mystery pallets King buys from publishers looking to dump overstock.

"It sold out in a week. There are hundreds of mushroom pickers in B.C., and that was their bible," he grins. "That's the lesson -- you just don't know. You always find a quirky selection here, and you never know what you're going to find."

Some of the independents have closed, and a couple have opened. Supermarkets and drugstores and convenience stores have also started stocking bestsellers.

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