Nerman's Books and Collectibles Closing

Since 1996 Nerman's Books and Collectibles has been a South Osborne mainstay. Gary Nerman has owned the building since 2005. Like a lot of people working past retirement, the decision to pass on or sell or liquidate the business becomes impossible to ignore. All over the city, I've seen businesses announce retirement and closure. Covid has probably made it easier to thinking about doing so. And at 68, Nerman just needed the right offer and that came in the form of selling his building which not is in the hot community finally being appreciated by many in Winnipeg.

Starting off with the biggest used children's mail order business as a part-time job, Nerman's become a bricks and mortar store on a street that had a few empty storefront. The Park Theatre, for example, had been idle for 10 years. The beginning of closures of mom and pop video stores started around then and only accelerated until there was nearly none. For years there was a few on most commercial streets and they numbered over 200 at one time. Now we see that with cannabis stores.

Nerman's books will not be taken over by a cannabis shop. The owner of the Park Theatre has bought the building and has only said it won't be an extension of the theatre, Erick Casselman has turned the theatre into a cultural center on South Osborne. It has no doubt helped surrounding businesses. 

The South South Osborne Biz in some respects is looking like how things were in the late 1970s and 1980s in Osborne Village where a few families started businesses, bought properties and made the areas what it was in those years. Scott Tackaberry owns Game Knight, Grape and Grain and Dastardly Villian Brewing all on Osborne. It has the same feel of those early years back in the Village when so much was owned by a few entrepreneurial families. Today, it is larger corporations that own the land.

The area could use another used book store but it takes a special person to to it and owning your own property is a must. Rent has gone up so much that it is hard for small businesses to take root, South Osborne still has some possibilities for owner/operator businesses. Part of the long term success of these type of businesses is being able to sell your company/property to other owner/operator. In the past, Osborne Village owners kept the property as a rental which has made it harder for new start ups.

The city will miss Nerman's but the health of South Osborne continues to inspire.