Indeed, the downtown Toronto bookstore RIP scroll is a long and storied one. The "dear departed" within striking distance of Yonge & Bloor include: 1) Edwards Arts & Books (Bloor E & Sherbourne St and later Bloor W & Avenue Rd); 2) The Anglican Bookstore (Hayden St); 3) Britnell's (Yonge & Asquith Ave or so); The Cookbook Store (Yonge & Yorkville Ave); 4) The Book Cellar (Yorkville Ave); 5) good ol' Coles (Yonge & St. Charles St and aka The World's Biggest Bookstore on Elm St); 6) ArtBooks (Nicholas St); 7) The Longhouse (Yonge & Elm St or so). A little farther afield: 8) David Mirvish Books (Markham St in the Annex near Bloor W & Bathurst St); 9) the lost jewel in the Book City crown (Bloor W between Brunswick Ave & Bathurst St); 10) Nic Hoare (Front St E); 11) Books for Business (York St & Adelaide St) and 12) always happy Litchman's (Yonge & Queen St or so, with more stores elsewhere in the city). That's a dozen off of the top of my head and doubtless the scroll includes more stores around town. It's been twenty-five shitty years since the arrival of the Heather's Imperial Death Stores ... and the good news is that a few illustrious independents are still hanging in. Vivat rebels! Cheers.
As an old goober, I remember riding the subway into downtown TO on Friday or Saturday nights. Strolling up and down Yonge St. Sam the Record man and the World’s Biggest Bookstore were always on the hit list I remember once hitting a “bookstore” on Yonge, south of Bloor on the West side. They had a million copies of one book. Didn’t realize it was Scientology and they were pushing their Dianetics book. Got strange vibes and got outta there faster than a speeding bullet.
Thanks for this great list of book stores around Toronto! Perhaps in the future, you can make other videos of things around Toronto, such as cool cafes or amazing toy stores or hobby stores as an example. I've subscribed to your channel! Thanks!!
Ah, I miss the good old days of Old Favourites Books, back when you could bump into Kurt Vonnegut or Morley Callaghan lurking in the darker corners, and find all sorts of amazing rarities. It was founded in 1954, and had several locations, but I knew it best at the sprawling one on Adelaide West, where it stood from 1970 to 1994. It still exists, but it's now way out on a country road northeast of the city, and mostly does mail order business. I was glad that you showed Bakka Phoenix, one of the earliest Science Fiction book shops, dating back to 1972, and a nexus of the city's Fandom. There are still quite a few good ones surviving in the city . . . and I hope you do a sequel or two to cover them. Among them is Glad Day, on Church Street, the world's oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ bookstore. Re:Reading on The Danforth is excellent. So is She Said Boom! on College not far from Kensington Market.
Thanks for the tour, Tara! Fantastic. Toronto has a lot better indie stores left than NYC does, which is rather sad to consider. Brooklyn has a few good indie shops, though, especially Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Queens...has nada. I'll give you one example of how good we had it years ago and I realize now we took it for granted: As a teenager I had a local B. Dalton Booksellers that was in a parking lot of a larger strip mall 10 min. bike ride from my house, about the size of a mall store, and they had at least four aisles of SF and Fantasy paperbacks and hardcovers. If I wanted anything by Frank Herbert, or MIchael Moorcock, THEY HAD EVERY SINGLE DARNED TITLE in print. Nowadays? I cannot even find anything but the most obvious of Frank Herbert, and nothing by Mike in most stores like Barnes and Noble here. They had entire walls of the entire DAW Donald Wollheim SF Fantasy paperbacks in print, every time. Now....nothinggggggg oh god I wanna cry! LOL This was the 70s and 80s.
It's also hard to find a really good philosophy section these days in most stores. I think Powells Books in Oregon is an exception, as is The Strand NYC. Or some university bookstores. Barnes and Noble in Chelsea (5th Ave.) NYC used to have an excellent philosophy dept., but that was mainly due to it being a textbook store for NYU or The New School. They had Kierkergaard, they had Heidegger, Aristotle, you name it!! Now gone.
In the early 1990s there was a stretch of a street behind the Royal Ontario Museum (near Bloor) where there were no less than 26 new and used bookstores. They had support from a wealthy educated class plus the Ryerson, OCA, and U of T students. All those stores are gone now. Book City used to have nine locations, much reduced today. Type had three locations, now down to one. Does anyone remember The World's Biggest Bookstore on Elm? It closed in 2013 much to the anger of book lovers. It had two floors of books in all areas included a good foreign language section. I miss those days. Ben McNally is still kicking around in downtown Toronto, albeit at a new location. What was your favorite bookstore? Where do you go in 2024?
10,000 Maniacs "Arbor Day" Wide open falsehood The clandestine truths Rival till the end In a series of duels Pardon the drapery language I choose Waltz in vienna has taught me to use Every tall room a fiction Leather bound treasure books Up to the ceiling Gold spine upon spine The guile and the treason The faith and allegiance Wide open falsehood The clan destine truths Rival till the end In a series of duels Pardon the drapery language I choose The author grew fat to imagine His lead pen careening Gave voice to the scheming An aryan cabale to dethrone The guile and the treason The faith and allegiance To the empire unknown The baron and his mistress Dine in fine banquet hall As rebel insurgents plot in The attic space crawl Wide open falsehood The clan destine truths Rival till the end In a series of duels Pardon the drapery language I choose His small hand did strive To explain all the Rants and raves of A people enslaved By the can't of the shrewdest Capable men The guile and the treason The faith and allegiance Now lie in my hand The guile and the treason The faith and allegiance Now lie in my hand
Wonderful bookstores there in Toronto Tara thanks for sharing this video! I hope when you finally visit London, England soon that you get to visit Waterstones & Daunt bookstores which are amazing places here in this city for years. Have a wonderful week! ❤❤
Barnes and Noble these days frustrates me, because it's all new books. They always have the same stock at every store, it's so cookie cutter. No used, no nothing.
@@robertrudick2492 Barnes and Noble? Well, I dunno about that. It's a decent chain for basic new and in print books, gifts, etc., and the cafes, but it's no good whatsoever for anything else. The Strand for me would have qualified as the best bookstore on the East Coast around 25 years ago or more. Now, not really. I mean a store that has used, rare, signed, and antiquarian books, as well as new etc.
![Toronto, Canada 1920s in color [60fps, Remastered] w/sound design added](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/V0JwD77B66A/mqdefault.jpg)
Amazing to see these thriving bookstores in the midst of our computer overload culture . Excellent video Tshods ! 📚
Physical books are still king
love the background music
I love this video finding these book stores…I even showed it to my 86 year old mom and she loves it 👍👍
I love independent book stores. RIP Pages @ Queen and John! Won't forget you.
Indeed, the downtown Toronto bookstore RIP scroll is a long and storied one. The "dear departed" within striking distance of Yonge & Bloor include: 1) Edwards Arts & Books (Bloor E & Sherbourne St and later Bloor W & Avenue Rd); 2) The Anglican Bookstore (Hayden St); 3) Britnell's (Yonge & Asquith Ave or so); The Cookbook Store (Yonge & Yorkville Ave); 4) The Book Cellar (Yorkville Ave); 5) good ol' Coles (Yonge & St. Charles St and aka The World's Biggest Bookstore on Elm St); 6) ArtBooks (Nicholas St); 7) The Longhouse (Yonge & Elm St or so). A little farther afield: 8) David Mirvish Books (Markham St in the Annex near Bloor W & Bathurst St); 9) the lost jewel in the Book City crown (Bloor W between Brunswick Ave & Bathurst St); 10) Nic Hoare (Front St E); 11) Books for Business (York St & Adelaide St) and 12) always happy Litchman's (Yonge & Queen St or so, with more stores elsewhere in the city). That's a dozen off of the top of my head and doubtless the scroll includes more stores around town. It's been twenty-five shitty years since the arrival of the Heather's Imperial Death Stores ... and the good news is that a few illustrious independents are still hanging in. Vivat rebels! Cheers.
Hey, Tara! I love browsing in bookstores. Thanks for this tour. 😊
Thank you for the book store tour. Visit to the book store very calm snd relaxing. BMB book store the best visit the last store. Ty.
As an old goober, I remember riding the subway into downtown TO on Friday or Saturday nights.
Strolling up and down Yonge St.
Sam the Record man and the World’s Biggest Bookstore were always on the hit list
I remember once hitting a “bookstore” on Yonge, south of Bloor on the West side. They had a million copies of one book. Didn’t realize it was Scientology and they were pushing their Dianetics book. Got strange vibes and got outta there faster than a speeding bullet.
Yeah, I also remember that strange book "outlet". Cheers.
Yay, bookstore tours.
Hello Tara thanks for the video always a pleasure
Hi Tara, brave job 😉. And a good idea too. Lot’s of books? Indeed 😀. I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for the video 👍. Best wishes, Michael
Thanks for this great list of book stores around Toronto! Perhaps in the future, you can make other videos of things around Toronto, such as cool cafes or amazing toy stores or hobby stores as an example. I've subscribed to your channel! Thanks!!
Wonderful book tour😍. It's totally awesome. Thank you.
Book Stores tour, looks like I want to see these, not many places I’ve seen but definitely worth a visit…
Nice idea for a video. I do enjoy books.
Ah, I miss the good old days of Old Favourites Books, back when you could bump into Kurt Vonnegut or Morley Callaghan lurking in the darker corners, and find all sorts of amazing rarities. It was founded in 1954, and had several locations, but I knew it best at the sprawling one on Adelaide West, where it stood from 1970 to 1994. It still exists, but it's now way out on a country road northeast of the city, and mostly does mail order business. I was glad that you showed Bakka Phoenix, one of the earliest Science Fiction book shops, dating back to 1972, and a nexus of the city's Fandom. There are still quite a few good ones surviving in the city . . . and I hope you do a sequel or two to cover them. Among them is Glad Day, on Church Street, the world's oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ bookstore. Re:Reading on The Danforth is excellent. So is She Said Boom! on College not far from Kensington Market.
Great tour of the book stores Tara. Cheers 😊
This is amazing
Wonderful sharing here thanks keep in touch big thumbs up cheers 👉👉👍👍🤗
Glad your back on track with your live stream. You look s little pale.. guess the medical issue you braved. You were missed.👌💜💙🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏💕💯Welcome back.
Thanks for the tour, Tara! Fantastic. Toronto has a lot better indie stores left than NYC does, which is rather sad to consider. Brooklyn has a few good indie shops, though,
especially Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Queens...has nada. I'll give you one example of how good we had it years ago and I realize now we took it for granted: As a teenager
I had a local B. Dalton Booksellers that was in a parking lot of a larger strip mall 10 min. bike ride from my house, about the size of a mall store, and they had at least four aisles
of SF and Fantasy paperbacks and hardcovers. If I wanted anything by Frank Herbert, or MIchael Moorcock, THEY HAD EVERY SINGLE DARNED TITLE in print. Nowadays?
I cannot even find anything but the most obvious of Frank Herbert, and nothing by Mike in most stores like Barnes and Noble here. They had entire walls of the entire
DAW Donald Wollheim SF Fantasy paperbacks in print, every time. Now....nothinggggggg oh god I wanna cry! LOL This was the 70s and 80s.
It's also hard to find a really good philosophy section these days in most stores. I think Powells Books in Oregon is an exception, as is The Strand NYC. Or some university bookstores.
Barnes and Noble in Chelsea (5th Ave.) NYC used to have an excellent philosophy dept., but that was mainly due to it being a textbook store for NYU or The New School. They had
Kierkergaard, they had Heidegger, Aristotle, you name it!! Now gone.
In the early 1990s there was a stretch of a street behind the Royal Ontario Museum (near Bloor) where there were no less than 26 new and used bookstores. They had support from a wealthy educated class plus the Ryerson, OCA, and U of T students. All those stores are gone now. Book City used to have nine locations, much reduced today. Type had three locations, now down to one. Does anyone remember The World's Biggest Bookstore on Elm? It closed in 2013 much to the anger of book lovers. It had two floors of books in all areas included a good foreign language section. I miss those days. Ben McNally is still kicking around in downtown Toronto, albeit at a new location.
What was your favorite bookstore? Where do you go in 2024?
I would have bought that book on Man Ray sight unseen!
It's nice to see these newish bookstores. However rents are slowly forcing many of them out of the market.
10,000 Maniacs "Arbor Day"
Wide open falsehood
The clandestine truths
Rival till the end
In a series of duels
Pardon the drapery language I choose
Waltz in vienna has taught me to use
Every tall room a fiction
Leather bound treasure books
Up to the ceiling
Gold spine upon spine
The guile and the treason
The faith and allegiance
Wide open falsehood
The clan destine truths
Rival till the end
In a series of duels
Pardon the drapery language I choose
The author grew fat to imagine
His lead pen careening
Gave voice to the scheming
An aryan cabale to dethrone
The guile and the treason
The faith and allegiance
To the empire unknown
The baron and his mistress
Dine in fine banquet hall
As rebel insurgents plot in
The attic space crawl
Wide open falsehood
The clan destine truths
Rival till the end
In a series of duels
Pardon the drapery language I choose
His small hand did strive
To explain all the
Rants and raves of
A people enslaved
By the can't of the shrewdest
Capable men
The guile and the treason
The faith and allegiance
Now lie in my hand
The guile and the treason
The faith and allegiance
Now lie in my hand
Wonderful bookstores there in Toronto Tara thanks for sharing this video! I hope when you finally visit London, England soon that you get to visit Waterstones & Daunt bookstores which are amazing places here in this city for years. Have a wonderful week! ❤❤
Barnes and Noble these days frustrates me, because it's all new books. They always have the same stock at every store, it's so cookie cutter. No used, no nothing.
Still the Best book store in the U.S. 💯🐯💙💜
@@robertrudick2492 Barnes and Noble? Well, I dunno about that. It's a decent chain for basic new and in print books, gifts, etc., and the cafes, but it's no good whatsoever for anything else. The Strand for me would have qualified as the best bookstore on the East Coast around 25 years ago or more. Now, not really. I mean a store that has used, rare, signed, and antiquarian books, as well as new etc.