Popular Book Company (Canada) Ltd ("Popular Canada") was incorporated on July 19, 1994 to publish quality workbooks and other learning materials for preschool and elementary children. The history of Popular Canada was marked with a line-up of successful publications beginning with MathSmart published in May 1999. Later in the year, Popular Canada ventured into the mainstream market in collaboration with Monarch Books of Canada Ltd., a reputable book distributor headquartered in Toronto. MathSmart was subsequently launched in Chapters and Indigo bookstores as well as Costco across Canada and became an instant success.
Since then, Popular Canada has been constantly improving and expanding its product range. Riding on the success of MathSmart, it strengthened its Math products by publishing MathSmart ProblemSolving and MathSmart Skills Builder. 2001 saw the launch of its anchor series, Complete MathSmart, which became a perennial bestseller across Canada.
On top of the Math workbooks Popular Canada started publishing English workbooks in 2001 with the EnglishSmart series and later the EnglishSmart Grammar series. Both series, like the Math workbooks, were well-received, which led to the publishing of Complete EnglishSmart in 2003. Complete MathSmart and Complete EnglishSmart continue to be the two best-selling series in Canada year after year.
Starting in 2004, Popular Canada went full-colour its products in an effort to maintain its leading position in the supplementary workbook sector. This came in the form of TripleSmart, a full-colour workbook series providing practice in English, Math and Science. This was met with great success, following with two other full-colour series: SpellingSmart and PhonicsSmart.
Looking back, Popular Canada has come a long way- starting off with virtually no products under its imprint to having made a name in the supplementary workbook sector in Canada. Looking ahead, opportunities ahWund and Popular Canada will strive to go beyond Canada and penetrate into other markets such as the United States and Asia with a more diverse line of unique products |