Looking to expand its horizons, one of the city’s independent book stores opened a new outlet on Friday, albeit a temporary one.

Bookland opened a store in Columbia Place Mall to cater to the seasonal book market while continuing its retail location in North Kamloops.

Owner Tom Monahan of Monahan Agency Ltd. in Vernon said his company is testing the waters during the all-important Christmas season.

“It’s an opportunity to get a presence on the hill for a couple of weeks,” Monahan said. “We are kind of testing what’s up there.”

No different than the rest of the book-selling business, Bookland does 40 per cent of its annual sales in the run-up to Christmas.

Books are his business, but the retail end represents only about one per cent of that. Wholesale book and magazine distribution all over the province — mostly outside of the Lower Mainland — is Monahan Agency’s bread and butter.

Although the seismic shift to digital technology such as ebooks is having an effect on the book-selling business, the impact to date is not as great as some reports suggest, he said.

“It’s certainly not at its best, but North Kamloops is pretty steady for us and we have the Vernon store as well.”

Monahan may consider a permanent location in the southwest if it can find the customer support.