After years in the industry, Julia Lutchman started her travel agency.
But when COVID-19 hit and flights were canceled, she changed gears.
That’s when Lutchman answered Cochrane’s call for a new bookstore, opening Found.
A change of plans
After living in Toronto for about a year, Lutchman and her husband decided it was time to change. They both liked Ontario but didn’t love where or what they were doing.
“I really liked visiting [Toronto], but living there was different,” said Lutchman.
With no personal ties, the couple looked west based on Lutchman’s memories of the mountains, leading them to Calgary.
Lutchman and her husband were told to visit MacKay’s Ice Cream in Cochrane, Alta. shortly after getting a car.
“So then we were driving down [Cochrane] hill, and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, if we could ever live here,’” said Lutchman.
Blown away by the small town, Lutchman and her husband began looking for houses and settled in Cochrane.
For 15 years, Lutchman worked for a travel agency, enjoying her time in different departments. But after being with the company for so long and seeing changes, she decided to go out on her own.
Luckily, according to Lutchman, clients reached out wishing to continue working with her, which led to her starting Found Travel in September 2019.
However, six months after Lutchman’s business launched, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and many of her clients’ trips were cancelled. With commissions needing to be paid back, the company lost large amounts of its income and faced high customer emotions.
“There was a lot of anger that was taken out on us because we’re the people that they get to talk to about it. So that was hard,” said Lutchman.
After realizing that travel wouldn’t return anytime soon, Lutchman and her husband began brainstorming other ways to earn money.
Cochrane’s call for books
After trying a few different pop-up shops, Lutchman realized they needed a more stable solution. After tinkering with ideas with her husband, she decided to post on a few Cochrane Facebook groups, asking what the community was missing.
“And there was an overwhelming response that, ‘We need a bookstore, we need a bookstore, we need a bookstore,’” said Lutchman.
Now, determined to fulfill the community’s wishes, Luchman and her husband took the first steps for Found, buying used books and bookshelves from Kijiji.
Luchtman’s friend Kauley Mitchell recalled how, in the business’s early days, all the books were color-coordinated in rainbow order by the book’s spine.
“I liked Julia’s way of saying that. It made people slow down a little bit more because they actually had to look through and possibly discover new books at that point,” said Mitchell.
Though the rainbow order was beautiful, it made finding the books customers wanted difficult. After Lutchman surveyed her shoppers, she changed the organization to the classic bookstore system for young adult, religion, fiction, and more.
And although she thought this bookstore would be temporary until travel came back, the business continued to grow, leading Lutchman to move to a bigger location on Main Street. Now in the more central downtown part of Cochrane, Lutchman’s connection with the community also expanded.
“One of the things that I was realizing with moving to selling books is that people want to talk, they want to be able to connect, they want to be able to feel… I don’t know, a sense of home,” said Lutchman. “Which I still don’t understand. I don’t understand how these things do that.”
Lutchman added a coffee/wine bar, a kids’ area in the back, and plenty of seating to make the space warmer and more welcoming.
“[Julia] just really made it into a place you want to just be at and hang out at and experience,” said Mitchell.
Found also began hosting events, such as book clubs, open mic nights, concerts, and more.
Lutchman believes this wouldn’t be possible without the community’s overwhelming support. She hopes her business will be around for a long time and continue to give the community what it wants.
She is working on including shipping and a membership program to further engage with the community.