Early in his street-store career, a building four doors away exploded, the cause attributed to a gas leak.

Scaffold and plywood went up around the shell, interfering with pedestrian traffic for months.

Nevertheless, Len’s growing business expanded into neighbouring space.

Unexpected costs, and the late night discovery of a leaking roof prompted a move three blocks north.

Then the building on his corner was firebombed. Protective hoarding went up.

Then the building next door was hit by fire. More hoarding.

Then the roadwork began, followed by a smash-and-grab theft of front window display materials. Shoup recognized an unpleasant trend.

He donated most of his mass-market paperbacks to a local charity and listed the remaining collectibles with two on-line services: Advanced Book Exchange (www.abebooks.com) and Bibliofind (www.bibliofind.com).

Together these Web sites list the stocks of thousands of used book merchants such as Shoup.

Potential buyers type in titles and information about books they want, and up comes a list of matches from a database of dealers’ descriptions, complete with genre, condition and price.

More information about specific terms and specialties is available from merchants’ connected home pages. When buyers make their selections, they contact dealers directly, usually by e-mail, to finalize the sale.

After only one year exclusively on-line,sales exceeded his best year in the shop. And there are other benefits.

"The best part is the flexibility," he says. "The Internet is open 24 hours a day, but I don’t have to stand all day, six days a week, behind the counter.

I can go watch my daughter in a school concert and make up the work later on. It’s tough though, with the business in the house, to separate work from family time."

Fees in the virtual world are far less than were rent and taxes for the old store. The bigger, Internet market expands what Shoup can sell, improving profit margins.

"Sometimes there’s a glut of certain books locally, depressing prices. The same titles could be in demand elsewhere, pushing prices up."

Shoup develops one-on-one relationships with frequent Internet buyers, but the bulk of sales come from his on-line listings. To reach clients not yet aware of the two used-book Web sites he offers some product through E-bay.

His routine has changed dramatically from his days in the shop, though Shoup still tries to get out weekly to replenish his stock from other used-book merchants.

Now, most time is spent on packaging and shipping, followed by data entry to maintain the Web site listings. He prepares ten to twenty packages daily, usually for the US, though the only continent he hasn’t served is Antarctica. Shipping is by regular post with the cost added onto the customer’s price.

Internet sales are a natural for the used book business, where mail-order from dealers listed in catalogues and periodicals is an established practice.

"Books are a recognized commodity with standardized grading systems and familiar terms and conditions for long-distance sales," Shoup points out.

Though he suspects most of the books are bought to be read rather than as artifacts, he is surprised at being unable to find similar Web sites listing dealers in other established collectibles such as coins and stamps.

Shoup’s business could grow by listing more books, but he would soon need to hire help for shipping. Would he consider opening a street-store again?

He’s still laughing at that option.