Spencer Books opened in Warkworth, Ontario, in January 2026. (Photo courtesy Spencer Books.)

Spencer Books
19 Main St, Unit 1
Warkworth, Ontario

As Spencer Books owner Sarah Lilleyman was finishing her second maternity leave in 2025, she decided it was time to hit pause on the corporate world and give becoming her own boss a try – not least because she had been living in Warkworth, Ontario, since 2018, and commuting close to two hours each way to jobs in Toronto. 

“I’d worked in journalism, content marketing, and tech, and I’d always had a full-time job working for someone else, and always tied to offices in Toronto,” Lilleyman says. “I was fully over the commute.”

For several years Lilleyman worked as an arts editor at the Globe and Mail, where she came to learn about the business of publishing. And even though she never worked in retail, she had dreamed of one day opening a bookstore. 

“If I was ever going to take the leap into running my own business, it was always going to be bookselling,” she says. “I’m a voracious reader, I’m addicted to BookTok and Bookstagram, I love reading about books and following authors’ careers.”

After a retail space became available on Warkworth’s Main Street last fall, Lilleyman got to work setting up shop in the Central Ontario village, and in early December 2025, Spencer Books had its soft opening. The 450-square foot store that Lilleyman owns and runs with one part-time employee officially opened on Jan. 16, 2026. 

Lilleyman recently spoke to Q&Q about the store’s first few months of business. 

What was it about your community that inspired you to open Spencer Books? 

It was time to try working for myself, and it just so happened that a perfect retail space became available at the right time, which is very rare in our town. I jumped at the chance and haven’t looked back. 

Our small town has a beautiful, lively main street with an apothecary, a vintage store, two clothing stores, a gourmet goods store, a chocolate shop, and a cafe – but it has never had a bookstore! And Warkworth is the ideal place for one. We’re a designated arts community, and we are a town of readers. Many authors live in the area, too, and we get a lot of visitors in the summer. I’ve always enthusiastically supported our local merchants, and now I get to be one.

How has the community and its readers responded to the store?

I have been so delighted by the response. Warkworth is such a special community. We get folks from all around visiting here, as it’s about 30 minutes’ drive to the next indie bookstore. Customers go out of their way to order books from me instead of Amazon – and I haven’t even launched our ecommerce yet (that’s coming very soon). Our book clubs are always full, and we’ve recently launched writers’ clubs that have filled quickly as well. The author events we’ve had have been well attended – we got to be part of Gill Deacon’s book tour (A Love Affair with the Unknown, House of Anansi Press) right after we opened and it was a highlight I haven’t come down from yet. 

How do you reach potential readers?

I post on social media, and regularly make videos of my reading recommendations in a series I call You’ve Been Read, where I select a new release, a recent release, a backlist title, and a Kids/Junior/YA title that I’m excited about in a given week. It gets some decent engagement and it’s fun to have a regular series to recommend great books. I also send a weekly newsletter, which is my pride and joy. It includes events happening in the store, our book club picks, etc., but it’s always full of reading recommendations so it appeals to folks who aren’t local, too. I have a number of Toronto-based subscribers, a few in the U.S., the U.K., and even New Zealand. Last month, I waxed poetic about my deep love for Ann Patchett and her new book, Whistler, and sold out of all my copies. Newsletters work!

What are your goals for the bookstore? Does the store have any special focus?

Spencer Books is a general-interest bookstore, so we carry a bit of everything. Stylistically, it’s inspired by the English countryside bookstores I’ve visited in my travels over the years, as well as the legendary Daunt Books and Hatchards Bookshop in London. Spencer is my middle name and my English great-grandmother’s maiden name. I want to make people feel like they’re walking into an old bookstore in a little village in the Cotswolds. We have classic blue toile wallpaper, and matching blue shelves and fixtures. There’s a long table at the back that we use for events, and comfortable reading chairs around the store, and I just opened a back patio for the summer. There are tiny armchairs in the kids’ section for little ones to read and play while parents browse. I want people to feel welcome to spend time here, sit and read or knit or do a puzzle, and enjoy the space. I’m planning to serve loose-leaf tea in vintage cups and saucers soon, too. 

What has been most surprising or unexpected about opening a bookstore or about your first few months in business?

I wasn’t prepared for how much hard work it is to keep a bookstore well-stocked and running smoothly. Any new entrepreneur will tell you the same thing. Figuring out the industry from the booksellers’ side was a huge learning curve. Thankfully, I’ve learned so much from other booksellers, who are universally kind and helpful, and that has made all the difference. Much more than that, though, I’ve been so blown away by the level of support from the people in this town. I still hear at least once a day “I am so glad we have a bookstore here now! Warkworth needed one!” It brings me so much joy, and I’m so grateful.

This interview has been edited and condensed.