[2] Prior to opening the store they had operated a "pushcart", buying up textbooks at the end of the school year and reselling them in the fall.

[citation needed] With no retail experience, the Cole brothers turned their store into what was once Canada's largest bookstore chain.

[3] Coles Notes began when students at a local high school were having trouble translating a French paper.

Coles Notes have sold over 80,000,000 copies worldwide,[citation needed] and served as the foundation for the similar Cliffs Notes which are published in the U.S.[6] Jack Cole was an avid collector of Canadian books, and in the late 1960s started reprinting affordable, paperbound facsimile editions of scarce and rare Canadian history titles, such as George M. Grant's Ocean to Ocean: Sandford Fleming's expedition through Canada in 1872.

Previous to the Cole's edition a history buff or student either had to pay a premium for the original edition if it could be found, have access to the rare book collection at a major library, or buy an expensive limited-edition reprint from a historical society or university press.

The smaller-format bookstores retained their existing names, but over time many of these locations have been converted to the Coles banner.

A handful of SmithBooks stores continue to operate as of late 2008, but even in these cases staff uniforms and shopping bags bear the "Coles" name.