Pegah Book Distribution

Whenever I get the chance to go to North York, I check Pegah bookstore. It feels like home here. It reminds me of Karmikhan bookstores. I had thus opportunity recently and was lucky enough to find a lot of my favourite books here. The fentleman owning the bookstore is familiar with all authors and he can offer you great options for your favourites. They also have beautiful Persian handcarfts such as handbags. By the way, this is a Persian bookstore. So most of the books are in Farsi.

Well I must say I had the most amazing experience here. Being a huge bibliophile since early childhood, I knew all the bookstores in every town we lived in back in Iran. When I moved to the U.S. I was beyond disappointed to find out there aren't any well-established Persian bookstores in America, especially taking into account the fact that there are at least 3 million Iranians in the U.S. This is the first time we visited Toronto and I was thrilled to find this place. I must say I felt a bit disheartened when I read the google reviews, that they all said the owner was moody and even rude. Mr. Derakhshan meaning brilliant in Persian was beyond helpful. I walked in and asked a million questions and he helped me browse. Here are some tips that will help you understand why I think this is a wonderful bookstore: 1. He knows his inventory, genres and why he has chosen each title. He also knows about all the editions and publishers from Iran. 2. His store is not only rich in old Persian titles and vintage books, he has a bunch of the newest titles in the Iranian market, which is extremely hard to obtain from abroad unless you have family in Iran who can send it to you. 3. He has old persian cds, movies, and records. 4. His store is beautiful. Truly. So many gorgeous artwork and many of them are for sale. Like if you wanted beautiful persian tile coasters! 5. He has so many different genres. From fiction to translated fiction, poetry, politics and even science. 6. He is truly understanding and appreciative of a fellow bibliophile. We had issues with payment and he helped us. He even set aside the titles we couldn't afford on the spot to sent to us on another occasion. He told us we can browse and take as many pictures as we can. He gave us his info so we can order the books we want. He even knocked off the price of an entire book from our order "so you can come back again!" He said. 7. He has such a wonderful grasp on different versions of the existing books. He can, for example, help you find the best translation. Aside from all this, I found some true gems. Translations of Fuentes and Celine, Forough Farrokhzad's poetry original version with no censorship and many more. I can understand why some people didn't connect with this place on their first experience. This is just my guess. Mr. Derakhshan has been a bookseller for 40 years. He has dedicated his life and passion to this job and he has achieved something truly amazing. If you are not a reader and are just looking for ways to pass the time while waiting for your friend to show up for a coffee date, there is a chance you will end up asking irrelevant questions and creating an unwanted frustration for a booklover. I know it is not a reason for pushing people away but I am mentioning that I understand if Mr. Derakhshan would ask a noninterested customer to leave, based on some reviews. It just shows his passion and dedication to his books. Altogether, highly recommended for anyone who loves the Persian language and Iranian literature.

Some of the comments about the owner being rude are surprising. I've been there twice and purchased a few books and he was exceptionally nice. Today I went with my son, who he gifted two books. Overall a great little bookstore, a bit pricey, but that's okay.

Very rude owner! Never been treated this rude in my life! Should’ve looked at the reviews first before going there. Apparently, browsing with the intention of buying is a sin in this book store. He didn’t even let us go in the store and quickly said what do you want! Never expected this ill-mannered behavior in a bookstore. Will never go there again.

The sales person/owner is very rude. He kept staring at me the whole time I was there and finally asked me to leave if I don't need anything specific. The worst behavior I've seen of any sales person. However they had a book I really wanted so I went back the day after and bought the book. This time the owner was very friendly and polite and even gave me a discount. My conclusion is, he doesn't like you when he thinks you're not gonna buy anything, but he does when you actually buy stuff.

Loved my experience at this book store. The owner is full of knowledge and made sure to tailor my experience when I informed of my intentions/what I wanted to learn. Such a sweet visit :

Went in hoping to find an album by a Persian band called Radio Tehran as I heard that they also carry some CDs. I didn't find what I was looking for, but the owner seemed perfectly fine to me. Overall, a nice little shop.

Fantastic book store in Toronto . He was very helpful and answered all my questions . Excellent customer service. was very friendly, patient and helpful in helping us find what we were looking for.

Very rude owner. Within the first minute of arrival, we just looked at couple books and the owner asked are you looking for a specific book? We said we are just browsing. He asked us to leave and brought an excuse that he has a cold!! We came from a long distance just to see this store and see the variety of books they might have. But I’m never going back and will discourage every single friend of mine to go to this store as well

Not a pleasant or welcoming atmosphere, deadly silence and the owner doesn’t know how to do business. As soon as we arrived, he was staring at us without saying a word, and told us to get out since he wanted to go on his “break” and close the store! Good variety of books though, it’s a shame. I would have bought a lot of books if I could’ve stayed more than 10 minutes!