Pannonia Hungarian Bookstore

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Hortenzia Papp, co-owner of Pannonia Hungarian Bookstore, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Pannonia is the only Hungarian language bookstore that is still operating in the Western diaspora. It was established more than 60 years ago; Hortenzia and Zsolt are the third owners (each previous owner was running it for about 25 years each). We took over 12 years ago. We are serving the Hungarian community all over Canada, the US, Australia, and sometimes we even send rare books to Europe. We have a huge selection of used and new books, boards games, music CDs, vinyl records, and unique gifts. Also, we supply Hungarian language books to major libraries in Canada and the US.

Tell us about yourself

We came from Hungary more than 30 years ago. Before we left, we worked in a cultural environment: in a theater of a big city in Hungary. Hortenzia was a dancer/dance teacher, Zsolt was a singer/actor/director. Books and culture were an essential part of our lives; in fact, when we left Hungary, we had four suitcases, 3 of which were books. When we arrived in Canada, our first trip was to find the community's bookstores and theaters, and we became very active right away. We founded Parameter club (over the last 30 or so years, we organized over 400 cultural events), we also have a Hungarian Radio show (since 2000) and the bookstore (since 2009), so our mission was always to preserve our heritage, also to present the rich Hungarian culture to fellow Canadians through our events. In the bookstore, we have Hungarian books in English, French, also a nice selection of our music.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

When we took over the bookstore, we had to establish our clientele; we had to work very hard. By now, we know our regular clients like friends, they keep coming back, we know exactly what they want, they trust us with recommendations. Every person is unique to us; we serve each customer according to their preference and needs.

New clients are welcomed with friendly service; we try to fulfill all requests if possible; most of the time, we go the extra mile to find a rare book that they are looking for. We are proud of our brand new and improved website that features about 15,000 items (we were working day and night during the pandemic to load all that data on the new site).

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

If you have your own business, that is your baby; it is 24/7. We go to sleep and wake up thinking about the business, planning improvements, worrying about problems. You don't stop working; the day is never done. There is always more to do.

Book business is getting harder; people don't read as much, and if they do, many use technology. For us, holding a book in your hand cannot compare with a computer screen.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

You have to put all your time and effort into it, work hard, care.
Do your research, find what makes your work more efficient.
And don't forget to BREATH, go out to the sunshine for a few minutes, take a break, take a day off (actually, this advice is also for me, I forget to take a breather sometimes) but it is very important to refresh and recharge.

We are very lucky to have a very supportive clientele; they were standing with us during the pandemic, supported us with orders, so we could survive; we very much appreciate it :)

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: http://pannonia.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pannonia-Bookstore-Hungarian-Books-104327502952542/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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