Heather Reisman is one of the most influential business figures in modern Canadian retail. Best known as the founder of Indigo Books & Music, she built a company that became deeply connected with the way Canadians discover and purchase books. Yet her professional story extends far beyond bookstores. Over several decades, Reisman has moved through social work, consulting, retail, digital publishing and philanthropy, developing a career that reflects both the transformation of Canadian commerce and the enormous changes that have taken place in the publishing industry. Born in Montreal in 1948, she eventually became one of Canada’s most recognizable business leaders and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.
From Social Work to the Business World
Reisman studied at McGill University, earning a degree in social work. Her first professional experience was therefore very different from the corporate environment with which she would eventually become associated. She began her career working as a caseworker with troubled young people, an experience that placed her directly in contact with complex human and social problems. Her eventual transition into business was not an obvious continuation of that path.
She later joined a computer company established by her brother and began moving toward management and entrepreneurship. In 1979, Reisman co-founded Paradigm Consulting, a strategic change consultancy, and served as its managing director for many years. This period gave her extensive experience advising businesses and understanding how organizations respond to changes in technology, competition and consumer behaviour. Those skills would become particularly valuable when she entered an industry that was itself about to undergo enormous disruption.
The Creation of Indigo
The defining moment in Reisman’s career arrived during the 1990s. She had initially been invited to participate in an attempted Canadian expansion by the American bookstore company Borders. When regulatory issues prevented that plan from proceeding, Reisman decided to pursue the opportunity herself. The result was Indigo Books & Music, founded in 1996.
The idea went beyond simply opening another conventional bookstore. Indigo’s large-format stores attempted to make buying books into a broader leisure experience. Customers could spend time browsing extensive selections rather than simply entering a shop, purchasing a title and leaving. The concept proved successful enough to transform Reisman into a major force within Canadian retail.
A crucial development came in 2001 when Indigo acquired Chapters, its principal competitor. The combination established Indigo as the dominant large bookstore chain in Canada and also brought other established bookstore brands into its network. Reisman had gone from entering an established industry to becoming the leader of its largest Canadian company in only a few years.
Reinventing the Traditional Bookstore
The following decades created an entirely different challenge. Online shopping, e-books and major global technology companies transformed the economics of bookselling. A retailer built around physical locations suddenly had to compete in a world where customers could purchase a book without ever entering a store.
Under Reisman’s leadership, Indigo increasingly expanded beyond books into lifestyle products, gifts and home merchandise. The strategy attempted to make its stores destinations for a broader range of purchases while maintaining books at the centre of the company’s identity. Reisman has repeatedly emphasized the importance of books to Indigo even as the retailer diversified its merchandise.
Her personal recommendations also became part of the company’s identity. The familiar “Heather’s Picks” label highlighted books personally selected by Reisman, effectively turning the company’s CEO into one of its most visible curators. It was an unusual combination of executive leadership and personal editorial influence.
Kobo and the Digital Reading Revolution
Rather than treating digital books only as a threat, Reisman also participated directly in the emerging e-reading market. She co-founded Kobo in 2009 as the digital transformation of reading accelerated around the world. The company developed e-readers and an international digital-book ecosystem designed to compete in a market that included some of the largest technology businesses in the world.
Kobo grew beyond Canada and became an internationally recognized e-reading platform. In 2011, Indigo’s majority stake was sold to Japanese company Rakuten in a transaction valued at approximately $315 million. The project demonstrated Reisman’s willingness to move beyond the traditional physical bookstore model at a moment when the future of reading appeared increasingly digital.
Philanthropy and Literacy
Books have also played a central role in Reisman’s philanthropic activities. She established the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation, an initiative focused on improving access to books in under-resourced Canadian schools. Over the years, the organization has provided books and financial support to school libraries across the country.
Reisman and her husband, businessman Gerald Schwartz, have additionally supported educational, medical and other philanthropic initiatives. Their donations have included significant contributions to institutions in Canada and abroad. Reisman’s philanthropic activities have therefore developed alongside her corporate career rather than beginning only after she achieved business success.
Her public activities have also attracted debate and criticism, particularly around some causes and organizations she has supported. This illustrates the broader reality of becoming a prominent business figure: commercial decisions, philanthropy and personal positions can all become subjects of public scrutiny.
More Than a Bookseller
Heather Reisman’s career ultimately tells a much larger story than the creation of a bookstore chain. She entered an established retail industry, helped consolidate it, confronted the rise of online commerce and participated directly in the development of digital reading. Few Canadian executives have been connected to so many stages of the transformation of the modern book business.
Her influence is also cultural. Bookstores determine which titles receive prominent placement and recommendations, meaning that a major retailer inevitably plays a role in how readers discover authors and ideas. Through Indigo and initiatives such as Heather’s Picks, Reisman became both a corporate executive and an unusually visible participant in Canada’s reading culture.
After decades in business, she remains closely associated with the company she created. Her journey from social worker to consultant, entrepreneur, retailer and philanthropist demonstrates how dramatically a professional career can evolve—and how one entrepreneur can become closely identified with an entire industry.
