On Friday, 13 June 2003 01:58:10 UTC-4, Bobstamp wrote:
It seems that Canada Post has decided to reinvent itself as stamp shop,
selling basic philatelic supplies. Beverly Fox, owner of Weeda Stamps in
Vancouver, writes about this interesting development in her current "Fox
Tales" newsletter, at http://www.weeda.com/news.cfm.

I'm not so sure this is a bad thing. It seems to me that having basic stamp
supplies available in post offices could result in the creation of new
collectors. While stamp shops might lose a few sales for supplies, they
might gain considerably from stamp sales.

Bob

In Ottawa, the private stamp shops have been closing
over the last number of years. This was mostly due
to the owners retiring from retail work.

As far as I know, Ian Kimmerly has the only retail
stamp shop left in Ottawa (population one million).

For decades, I used to get supplies and collections
at McIntosh's stamp shop, before he retired. His
prices were lower than Canada Post.

I appreciate being able to get pages and the odd
stock book at Canada Post, but I go to Kimmerly's
more often, as they also sell literature, world
stamps and covers and other supplies.

For those in isolated parts of Canada, getting supplies
by mail order from the philatelic section or at their
local post office may be their only source of such
items.

Blair