R.G. Mitchell Family Books

RGM was the leading full service sales, marketing and distribution wholesaler of Christian and inspirational products in Canada. R.G. Mitchell Family Books Inc. had been supplying quality Christian and inspirational products to the Canadian market for over 74 years. It was on January 1, 1934 that Mr. R. Gordon Mitchell and Mr. Ernie Tatham purchased Home Evangel Book Shop, then a small retail store located at 418 Church Street in downtown Toronto. It was agreed that Mr. Mitchell would work full-time in the store, while Mr. Tatham would travel across Canada once a year selling their wholesale lines to other Christian bookstores. At the end of 5 years of limited growth, Mr. Tatham sold his portion of the business to Mr. Mitchell. For the next 20 years Mr. Mitchell traveled across Canada each year in an 8-week non-stop trip. In order to save on shipping time, Mr. Mitchell made arrangements to stock his wholesale lines and offer direct supply to the Canadian Christian booksellers. By 1954, Mr. Mitchell decided to concentrate on the wholesale side of the business, and Home Evangel’s retail sales increased 25% as a result of the larger and improved facilities. It was also in this period that Mr. Mitchell was involved with the fledgling Christian Booksellers Association in the United States. He was a member of the executive committee for seven years and served as president for two years. In 1958, Mr. Mitchell hired the first salesman to do the majority of the traveling that he had been doing for over 20 years. In 1961, property was purchased and a 12,000 square foot building was built, shortly thereafter, it was necessary to expand the building another 5,500 square feet. In June of 1973 to construct a new 31,000 square foot building at 565 Gordon Baker Road in Willowdale, ON. This building, with a 7,000 square foot addition, completed in 1984 to house a retail store, and also remains the current site of wholesale operation.