If you need a good used book on any topic, you might want to check out a hidden treasure in Perdue, 45 minutes west of Saskatoon.
Ralph Crawford started a bookstore in New Brunswick almost 50 years ago. He needed to vacate the location because of flooding so he looked westward. He found an old bank in the town of Perdue and moved 100,000 books across the country in a bus and trailer.
Crawford's Used Books is now full of 300,000 books on all different topics from crafts to theology, fiction, the outdoors, gardening and more.
He has some locals who shop at the store, but his client base doesn’t end there.
"I've had people from as far away as England and China and all over," Crawford told CTV News.
He tells us that one customer from Swift Current ended up staying overnight at the now closed Perdue Hotel so he could shop another day in the store.
A cell phone is as high-tech as Crawford gets, but he's not opposed to technology. He actually thinks that it will be what makes hard copy books valuable again.
"The fact that we have electronic books, the publishers are not publishing as many books as they used to."
His books are spilling off the shelves in some places and are stacked precariously on the floor. Crawford doesn't make a fuss when people knock books onto the floor because he's picking up books a lot.
"I pick them up again because I know they're going to do that. Trains knock them over sometimes. Trains go by fast and if it's a heavy oil train and it can shake things," Crawford told CTV News.
His books cost anywhere from $5 up to one he has in stock which is $300.
Crawford has no immediate family and he's not sure what will happen to his beloved store someday, but for now, his books are all he needs.
"You never know what real treasure is going to turn up. I've had some wonderful treasures turn up over the years."
He has no immediate plans to quit collecting or selling books because he wants to see what the next chapter holds.
