Yellowknife (May 04/05) - There can be a myriad of reasons why few things replace reading a good book. For Judith Drinnan, it is the escapism from day-to-day activities.

Judith Drinnan, owner/manager of the Yellowknife Book Cellar, says her independent bookstore offers a wide selection of authors, including those from the North.

"I need never feel alone. Once you have a book, it opens your mind. You can escape from the real world or you can find more information," the owner/manager of the Yellowknife Book Cellar said. "It's a way to relax and it is disengaging from the electronic era."

Drinnan is part of 500 independent book stores from across Canada who celebrated Independents Day April 26 through the Canadian Booksellers Association.

The celebration of Independents Day's theme, Independents Matter, is a theme Drinnan wants to continue to celebrate throughout the year.

"It's time for us to speak for ourselves. We've come in for a lot of battering the last while with the rise of the mega-chains, but we do have our strengths and I think my store proves that," she said of her business, in its 25th year. "You look at your community and you buy according to your customers. From all standpoints, you enrich your community," she said.

Large book chains buy books according to national demand, more so than local, Drinnan noted.

"They look at the top titles and buy generically for the whole country. I feel I have my finger on the pulse of Yellowknife's reading habits," she said, adding the best seller list she compiles is often quite different from that of the nation.

Always making room for Northern authors such as Jamie Bastedo, Drinnan said it is a trait of independent book sellers to showcase talent in their own communities.

"Even the Margaret Atwoods have to start off regionally."

One regular customer to the store, Mary Lyn Robertson, said as librarian at NJ Macpherson school, she finds the store to be very well-versed in Northern topics.

"We have an aboriginal culture collection at the school they helped develop and it is always nice to go to the store and look at the materials," Robertson said.

The store also will pre-order books written by visiting celebrity authors for the school, she said.

"Often they get them autographed," she said of the extra touch in service.

Drinnan also said making the effort to send books to smaller Northern communities means keeping in touch with what readers enjoy.

"But initially, if we hadn't gone out and tried to spread our name through the NWT, we would never have survived," she said.

"The only way your bookstore works is to listen to your customers and hear what they say."