Canada's oldest bookstore will close its doors for good at the end of March.

The Book Room on Barrington Street in Halifax opened for business in 1839 and survived two World Wars and the Great Depression, store president Charles Burchell said in a release.

But the retail store couldn't outlast big box bookstores, Burchell said, nor the ease of ordering books online, competition from book selling pharmacies and grocery stores or the pressure to lower prices to reflect a stronger Canadian dollar.

Burchell said The Book Room will begin "an orderly shutdown of its retail store and dispose of its inventory" over the next few weeks. The company's wholesale operation will continue.

"I am extremely disappointed to make this announcement as The Book Room has been an institution in Nova Scotia," he said. "The bookstore has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression and economic ups and downs over its 169 year history."

Burchell said that during his 42 years with the bookstore, he invited "hundreds and hundreds of local authors, authors from across Canada and around the world to come and meet their reading fans."

Before the advent of the computer, Burchell said the store received letters from "all over the world" requesting special books be sent to them.

"To fulfill their request was such a gratifying feeling for me as well as my staff," he said in the release.