H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd.

Description

H.B. Fenn and Company is the kind of business story that is remarkable. The company was founded in 1977 by Harold Fenn, current president and CEO. A former senior executive at Coles book chain, Harold Fenn launched this new company in a 1700 square foot building, and represented one publisher: Coles Publishing Company. During the next two years, H.B. Fenn and Company sold Coles Notes, Coles Self-Help Publishing Program, and the Coles Canadiana Collection to independent and alternate markets.In the early years it was extremely difficult to build the business quickly. As a small distribution company, only similar sized publishers were attracted. The vision was to continually build the business to be one of the largest book distributors in Canada.The first big break came in 1980 when distribution rights were acquired to Tom Thompson and The Group of Seven, published by the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario. That book went on to sell over 150,000 copies in Canada and gave H.B. Fenn and Company the opportunity to begin selling books directly to the major chains. In 1981, Pinnacle Books were signed on, an American mass-market publisher that was also acting as distributor for Tor Books. When Pinnacle closed shop a few years later and Tor was purchased by St. Martin's Press, SMP Paperbacks also signed a Canadian distribution deal with H.B. Fenn and Company.

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