Would also shout out: Pandemonium - Dundas west of Keele - used books, also has a big selection of vinyl & CDs Re: Reading - Danforth east of Chester - very cool sci-fi/fantasy section in back She Said Boom - 2 locations, Roncesvalles & College St east of Bathurst. Also sells CDs Another Story - Roncesvalles - very equality and diversity focused selection, lots of social justice and activism books. I think just new books? A Good Read - Roncesvalles - mix of used, new, merch, and Antique/rare books
I remember Queen Street in the 1970s. The stretch between Spadina Ave and University Ave was packed with bookstores, and I liked to wander the book stores there and find my next book to read. Some of my favorites were Grange, Deacan, Bakka, and Pages. If you were a book lover, you couldn’t go wrong.
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.
I totally remember when Bakka Phoenix sci-fi books used to be on Queen Street between Beverley and Soho streets. Gosh, it was back in 1975, I think? My older brother used to go buy his comic books in the back of the store; the owner of Silver Snail sold his comics from Bakka. They actually had two locations at one time: Bakka on Queen Street and Bakka II on Yonge Street. However, the second location shut down in the late '70s. Regardless, those are great memories.
I recently found an old bookmark from Phoenix Books from when it was on Queen street. I don't think it even had Bakka in the name, but I might be misremembering and don't have it close at hand to check
We also love Pandemonium on Dundas near Keele in the Junction. They have a great selection of books, vinyl records and even DVDs. The vinyl records are really well curated and organized by genre, making it a pleasure to browse! We always make it a point to go there when we visit Toronto!
The legendary Seekers books on Queen st. w will always be my favorite book store, been going there since the 80's. Find stuff you will not find anywhere else, lots of cool coffee shops near bye to check out your latest book purchase.
All good stores. I hope people go out and support them by buying more books. Buy more books guys! You missed a whole floor at BMV. There's a basement of film and music books and media. Also, when you do the follow up, don't forget Arcadia Books on Queen St. It's got some deep history.
oooo that one sounds interesting! Arcadia Books! And Queen Street business'.. back in my day Queen Street WAS the place for creatives and alternatives.. it was the most interesting street in Toronto, back in the 80's. xo :)
@@keetahbrough Indeed, but that was the cool west, where you could find Pages and About Books and Dragon Lady and the might mighty Silver Snail. Queen St east was always a little rougher round the edges and Arcadia is smack dab in Moss Park. Great shop though.
Great tour! I lived in Toronto for many years and had never been to a few of those bookstores even though I had heard of them. I’ll be heading to BMV next time I am there.
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!!
Imo, you are missing three of the best bookstores, in terms of literary collections, book loving owners, and their depth of knowledge of books: ABC Books (S of Yonge/Bloor, precursor to BMV,) Seekers (E of Brunswick/Bloor,) and Doug Miller Books (W of Euclid/Bloor.) Been hooked on books since the 90s, glad T.O. is still home to these establishments for as long as we can.
I didn't know Bakka was still around. Going to have to go down and check it out sometime. After they moved to Yonge St. I stopped going not long after, I had moved father out and they didn't carry much in the way of used books and at the rate I read(or used to, keep falling asleep now) I can't afford new books often. I wonder if they still have my rather large credit on record?:)
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.
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.
There's a book store, used to be downtown Owen Sound. ANd you could buy the book, and bring it back for an exchange for another. It wasn't a library, by any means.. because you had to buy the books. But once you did, you were into a network of reading books.. that wasn't expensive and you could collect the books, or just read them at home, give it back and grab another one. It is a good system. xo I would actually like to see a business that offers us little nooks and areas to read in a comfy setting, maybe. For those of us who do not have comfy settings :)
You left out a Different Booklist at Bathurst and Spadina. This is one of the most important bookstores in Toronto and maybe even Ontario! A Different Booklist carries many authors that may not be found in regular bookstores, giving them a voice and educating the rest of us. Check it out!
Thanks for this. Many ive not been to. Have you been to D&E Lake? Ive read many reviews of confrontation with the owner/operator. However I had a pleasant experience with him and highly recommend the store.
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.
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! ❤❤
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?
Nice informative video. Sadly though Toronto does not have a really good bookstore at least for new books. Indigo does not compare say to a Kinokuniya which sells only books and not a bunch of other junk like Indigo does. I suspect political pull is being used to keep a chain like Kinokuniya out of Canada and so we are deprived. From what I can tell, Indigo adds nothing so I don't even visit it anymore. I particularly like bookstores with good science sections and these are rare. U of T bookstore used to be good in this regard but seems more interested in selling sports paraphernalia now.
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
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.
1) it's QUEEN books, not queenS; 2) it's Monkey's Paw, not monkeY; 3) you missed Great Escape's back room and its basement; 4) BMV cafe has never served coffee - it was a failed idea begun years ago that never came into fruition, and they were just too lazy to remove the sign; 5) you GUESS BMV is a used bookstore? 6) you missed BMV's basement.
There are some used books at BMV, but most of the book inventory are publisher remainders. I think they do a good job in curating. If you like BMV, then Book City, with several locations in the city are also worth visiting. They also carry publisher remainders and have a magazine/periodicals section.
Would also shout out:
Pandemonium - Dundas west of Keele - used books, also has a big selection of vinyl & CDs
Re: Reading - Danforth east of Chester - very cool sci-fi/fantasy section in back
She Said Boom - 2 locations, Roncesvalles & College St east of Bathurst. Also sells CDs
Another Story - Roncesvalles - very equality and diversity focused selection, lots of social justice and activism books. I think just new books?
A Good Read - Roncesvalles - mix of used, new, merch, and Antique/rare books
Amazing to see these thriving bookstores in the midst of our computer overload culture . Excellent video Tshods ! 📚
Physical books are still king
@@gerrylee79Not really. If they were we wouldn’t have had so many bookstores disappear.
I remember Queen Street in the 1970s. The stretch between Spadina Ave and University Ave was packed with bookstores, and I liked to wander the book stores there and find my next book to read. Some of my favorites were Grange, Deacan, Bakka, and Pages. If you were a book lover, you couldn’t go wrong.
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.
I totally remember when Bakka Phoenix sci-fi books used to be on Queen Street between Beverley and Soho streets. Gosh, it was back in 1975, I think? My older brother used to go buy his comic books in the back of the store; the owner of Silver Snail sold his comics from Bakka. They actually had two locations at one time: Bakka on Queen Street and Bakka II on Yonge Street. However, the second location shut down in the late '70s. Regardless, those are great memories.
I recently found an old bookmark from Phoenix Books from when it was on Queen street. I don't think it even had Bakka in the name, but I might be misremembering and don't have it close at hand to check
We also love Pandemonium on Dundas near Keele in the Junction. They have a great selection of books, vinyl records and even DVDs. The vinyl records are really well curated and organized by genre, making it a pleasure to browse! We always make it a point to go there when we visit Toronto!
The legendary Seekers books on Queen st. w will always be my
favorite book store, been going there since the 80's. Find stuff
you will not find anywhere else, lots of cool coffee shops near
bye to check out your latest book purchase.
Queen? Seekers is on Bloor in the Annex.
Hey, Tara! I love browsing in bookstores. Thanks for this tour. 😊
All good stores. I hope people go out and support them by buying more books. Buy more books guys!
You missed a whole floor at BMV. There's a basement of film and music books and media. Also, when you do the follow up, don't forget Arcadia Books on Queen St. It's got some deep history.
oooo that one sounds interesting! Arcadia Books! And Queen Street business'.. back in my day Queen Street WAS the place for creatives and alternatives.. it was the most interesting street in Toronto, back in the 80's. xo :)
@@keetahbrough Indeed, but that was the cool west, where you could find Pages and About Books and Dragon Lady and the might mighty Silver Snail. Queen St east was always a little rougher round the edges and Arcadia is smack dab in Moss Park. Great shop though.
BMV is a godsend for Canadian comic book collectors. They're dirt cheap and have a huge selections.
Nicely done T Shods makes me wanna visit my local book store 📕
I love this video finding these book stores…I even showed it to my 86 year old mom and she loves it 👍👍
Great tour! I lived in Toronto for many years and had never been to a few of those bookstores even though I had heard of them. I’ll be heading to BMV next time I am there.
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.
I used to work at BMV on Edward Street, back in 2007, and then at the Queen and John Street location from 2010 to 2013. I really loved that gig.
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.
Imo, you are missing three of the best bookstores, in terms of literary collections, book loving owners, and their depth of knowledge of books: ABC Books (S of Yonge/Bloor, precursor to BMV,) Seekers (E of Brunswick/Bloor,) and Doug Miller Books (W of Euclid/Bloor.) Been hooked on books since the 90s, glad T.O. is still home to these establishments for as long as we can.
I didn't know Bakka was still around. Going to have to go down and check it out sometime. After they moved to Yonge St. I stopped going not long after, I had moved father out and they didn't carry much in the way of used books and at the rate I read(or used to, keep falling asleep now) I can't afford new books often. I wonder if they still have my rather large credit on record?:)
Thank you so much! I used to take daytrips to TO from Buffalo just to hit the bookstores. No used bookstores in Miami. 😥
great video! I keep meaning to go check out some of those bookstores.
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.
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.
Book Stores tour, looks like I want to see these, not many places I’ve seen but definitely worth a visit…
There's a book store, used to be downtown Owen Sound. ANd you could buy the book, and bring it back for an exchange for another. It wasn't a library, by any means.. because you had to buy the books. But once you did, you were into a network of reading books.. that wasn't expensive and you could collect the books, or just read them at home, give it back and grab another one. It is a good system. xo I would actually like to see a business that offers us little nooks and areas to read in a comfy setting, maybe. For those of us who do not have comfy settings :)
You left out a Different Booklist at Bathurst and Spadina. This is one of the most important bookstores in Toronto and maybe even Ontario! A Different Booklist carries many authors that may not be found in regular bookstores, giving them a voice and educating the rest of us. Check it out!
Bathurst and Spadina don’t intersect.
Hello Tara thanks for the video always a pleasure
Thanks for this. Many ive not been to. Have you been to D&E Lake? Ive read many reviews of confrontation with the owner/operator. However I had a pleasant experience with him and highly recommend the store.
Great tour of the book stores Tara. Cheers 😊
Great job, Tara
love the background music
Yay, bookstore tours.
This is fantastic. Instant subscribe here!
You missed one of the best book stores, The Scribe, on Danforth. Possibly one of the best curated bookstores in the city.
Nice idea for a video. I do enjoy books.
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.
I like Monkey Paw best. it looks like it will contain the best treasures. xo :)
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.
Wonderful sharing here thanks keep in touch big thumbs up cheers 👉👉👍👍🤗
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.
How about the Beguiling? :)
You left out the scribe on Danforth is the best📚
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! ❤❤
This is amazing
I would have bought that book on Man Ray sight unseen!
me too!!!
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?
It's nice to see these newish bookstores. However rents are slowly forcing many of them out of the market.
best bookstore for me is the TPL around the corner.
BMV Cafe does NOT serve coffe, drinks or food. Uses the term Cafe because it is cozy and small. All then books in that area are 3 for $10
Unfortunately, many people go to bookstores, browse the shelves and find things they like, and simply download them for free.
Nice informative video. Sadly though Toronto does not have a really good bookstore at least for new books. Indigo does not compare say to a Kinokuniya which sells only books and not a bunch of other junk like Indigo does. I suspect political pull is being used to keep a chain like Kinokuniya out of Canada and so we are deprived. From what I can tell, Indigo adds nothing so I don't even visit it anymore. I particularly like bookstores with good science sections and these are rare. U of T bookstore used to be good in this regard but seems more interested in selling sports paraphernalia now.
None of the mainstream ones, that’s for sure. Chapters/Indigo are hollowed out shells of their former glory. Nothing to see there.
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
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.
Kinda sad there is only 4
Only 4 what? There are many bookstores in Toronto.
More females than males, I'm thinking..
1) it's QUEEN books, not queenS; 2) it's Monkey's Paw, not monkeY; 3) you missed Great Escape's back room and its basement; 4) BMV cafe has never served coffee - it was a failed idea begun years ago that never came into fruition, and they were just too lazy to remove the sign; 5) you GUESS BMV is a used bookstore? 6) you missed BMV's basement.
There are some used books at BMV, but most of the book inventory are publisher remainders. I think they do a good job in curating.
If you like BMV, then Book City, with several locations in the city are also worth visiting. They also carry publisher remainders and have a magazine/periodicals section.