About Raincoast Books
"Raincoast has spent its time and money building a world-class logistics system.”
Canadian Press, June 2007
Raincoast Books is a division of Raincoast Book Distribution Inc., an award-winning, Canadian-owned book wholesale and distribution company based in Vancouver, BC.
Founded in 1979, Raincoast Book Distribution’s other divisions include Publishers Group Canada, a distribution division focusing on specialty independent publishers, and BookExpress, our book wholesale division.
Raincoast Books specializes in providing comprehensive sales, marketing and distribution services to a select number of international publishers. We distribute books on a wide range of topics including food, health, kids, pop culture, and travel, as well as notebooks, stationery and gift products. More information about our publishing partners and their books can be found here.
Raincoast runs a warehouse system capable of swiftly delivering over 20,000 new titles to over 2500 bookstores and other specialty retailers across Canada’s 5 time zones. But we provide more than just efficient distribution. Raincoast delivers complete sales, marketing, and logistical support to our publishers. Not only do we ship orders faster than any publisher in Canada, we devote time, resources and expertise to ensure these books get noticed, picked up, and read.
Raincoast History and Achievements:
1979 • Raincoast Books/BookExpress is founded by Allan MacDougall and
Mark Stanton.
1988 • Raincoast signs its first distribution deal with Chronicle Books. Today
Raincoast and PGC serve over 100 publishers from around the world.
1995 • Raincoast Publishing is founded. The program would continue until
2008 during which time it won or was shortlisted for every major literary
prize in Canada. In 2003 Raincoast wins a Governor General’s Award for
Literature.
1999 • Raincoast opens new 50,000 square foot warehouse and corporate
headquarters at 9050 Shaughnessy Street in Vancouver. Including secondary
warehouse facilities, Raincoast now has over 70,000 square feet of warehousing capacity.
2003 • Raincoast sets Canadian publishing history with the largest domestic
print run and single-day lay-down for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This record is smashed in 2005 with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and again in 2007 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
2003 • Raincoast was awarded an Ethics in Action Award for Environmental
Excellence, Small to Medium-sized Business, for our commitment to
sustainable environmental practices and for being an industry leader in the
adoption of Ancient Forest Friendly paper.
2004 • Allan MacDougall is awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year Award in the category of Media and Entertainment.
2004 • Raincoast wins the Distributor of the Year Award, as voted by members of the Canadian Booksellers Association. Raincoast wins in 2005, 2006 and is nominated again in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
2005 • New sales and marketing offices are opened for the Raincoast group in Toronto. Raincoast is the only Canadian book company with major executive offices in both Vancouver and Toronto.
2006 • Raincoast wins the Marketing Achievement of the Year Award, as voted by members of the Canadian Booksellers Association. Raincoast is shortlisted in 2007 and is shortlisted again in 2008.
2007 • BookExpress Online Catalogue is launched, allowing customers to
check price, availability and stock levels of titles; place orders online; see the
status of recent orders, open orders and returns; and view catalogue copy and publication data for key titles.
2009 • Raincoast is recognized for 22 years of supporting the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival.
2010 • Raincoast is shortlisted for the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Distributor of the Year Award.
