Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Chapters Inc. was created when Coles and SmithBooks, Canada's two largest book chains at the time, merged in 1994. SmithBooks was acquired from Federal Industries and Coles was acquired from Southam Inc Canadian General Capital and Pathfinder Capital bought these two chains with the intention to build large format book superstores. The new company, Chapters Inc., was officially created in April 1995 and the first two book superstores were opened in November 1995. Chapters Inc. continued to expand across Canada, opening store in all provinces under the banners of Chapters, Coles, SmithBooks and World's Biggest Bookstore. They eventually became the largest book retailer in Canada, with 77 superstores and more than 280 mall-based stores. In 2001, Chapters Inc. was acquired by Indigo Books and Music after a hostile takeover bid. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.