Toronto Panda Condominiums | 107.59m | 30s | Lifetime | Turner Fleischer

[adHominem]

^I miss those stores as well. I'm surprised that Ben McNally can survive on Bay Street, but I hope it can do so for as long as possible.

I think Ben has such a beautiful space that he's able to rent it out for private events, which helps his bottom line. Plus he's the bookseller for IFOA every year. Hopefully he can hang in there a good long time.

WBB was never my favourite – I still keenly feel the absence of This Ain't the Rosedale Library, Mirvish and Pages – but I'm sad to see it go. Every time a bookshop closes the city as a whole is a little poorer for it.

It also feels like the end of an era of a particular form of retail – WBB (at least before it became an outsize Indigo stepchild) was of a type with Sam's and Honest Ed's: big, brash, not too self-serious, populist and welcoming, disorganized, ramshackle and useful.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I would hope that they will include a big "flagship" bookstore in the replacement development. At the same time, once it opens, they can then close the Indigo bookstore in the Eaton Centre. Since the World's Biggest Bookstore, Indigo, Coles, SmithBooks, and Chapters are all in the same family, why not? See link.

 

[Edward Skira]

Indigo is slowly but surely replacing books with home type products. Within 5 years I bet they won't be carrying any books. Don't expect a bookstore here in the future.

 

[TrickyRicky]

Bookstores used to be my go to dating platform back when I was single. What are the kids going to do in the future? Bars and coffee places are poor substitutes. Single people should be glad we even still have places like Indigo left

 

[argus]

Bookstores and record stores used to be my browsing pit stops. Record stores are pretty much gone, and I guess bookstores will suffer the same fate. It'll be really weird not to have a bookstore, or to see them turned into highly specialized rarities.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Bookstores and record stores used to be my browsing pit stops. Record stores are pretty much gone, and I guess bookstores will suffer the same fate. It'll be really weird not to have a bookstore, or to see them turned into highly specialized rarities.

Bookstores could become a media resource centre. People could browse for music, videos, softcopy and hardcopy materials in one place.

 

[DavidJamesTO]

At least Ben McNally, Book City and BMV are still around. Though I do miss Mirvish, Edwards Books and Art, the Book Cellar, Britnells, Lichtmans...all gone in the last 20 years.

Nicholas Hoare's closure did it for me. Was glad to discover Ben McNally; that one will fill the void.

The bookstore's strength is that you can browse and find things you wouldn't otherwise. You can browse on Amazon or AbeBooks, but it's not the same. You can only browse titles, not content. There's no happening upon something you weren't looking for--even the suggested results are influenced by what you've already looked at.

 

[freshcutgrass]

Nicholas Hoare's closure did it for me. Was glad to discover Ben McNally; that one will fill the void.

I don't think anyone can replace the smell of the wood burning fireplace or the comfort of those down filled sofa & chairs.
Participating in consumerism used to be far more interesting when more people were interested in it as a visceral experience.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Quick personal story. Being a gay kid in Scarborough back in the 70's/80's, I had no resources on the topic, and was terrified to even ask about it. Pre-web, our only outlet was the local variety store porno mags, that I would nervously pay for while telling the store clerk they were for my "girlfriend"...

We sound of a similar age, where we grew up and experiences. Around roughly 1977-78'ish there was a TV news story on Glad Day Book Store (can't remember why). Somehow I found it and it opened up a whole world to me where I could buy my magazines, fiction and non-fiction books and talk to real live gay people in a safe environment. Back then it was on the second floor of a shop on Collier Street (Yonge/Davenport area) which was sort of a side street that few people walked along, so it felt safe to dodge in and dodge out of! At that time my only gay reference was Billy Crystal on "Soap" so for a 14 or 15 year old kid finding a book store with a wealth of information - and people to talk to about it was not only liberating but absolutely invaluable to my development. Jut a few short years later after the bathhouse raids I had the courage (and anger) to join my first political protest.

 

[AndreaPalladio]

Indigo is slowly but surely replacing books with home type products. Within 5 years I bet they won't be carrying any books. Don't expect a bookstore here in the future.

I always say that Mrs. Schwartz' Tchotchke Shoppe carries a few books too!

 

[thecharioteer]

I'm not old enough but anybody go here when it was a bowling alley?

No, but here's what it looked like in the 1950's:

And at the time of the Yonge Street Mall (early 1970's):

Which replaced this:

And looked like this in the early 1980's:

 

[Miscreant]

That was really interesting. Thanks for posting those.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Yeah, thanks for posting those....strange that no one says much on losing that corner building at Yonge for that current crap

 

[Ramako]

Could Fenton be referring to this site?

Weakening rental picture latest condo market worry


Toronto condo developer Barry Fenton, CEO of Lanterra Developments, says the industry remains confident in the condo rental market.

...

He added that he’s in talks with a pension fund that wants him to develop a building with 1,000 units downtown that the pension fund would initially rent out, but could later sell as condos if it chose.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...-poised-to-fall-report-shows/article15652306/

 

[interchange42]

I'd be surprised. Lifetime has worked with Lanterra in the past at waterparkcity, but lately they've been going it alone. Might Lanterra be hooking up with the Caisse de dépôt at 45 Bay?

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