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Monday, June 3, 2024

My happy place (well, one of them...!) ;)

Dh & I bonded over our shared love of books, almost from the very start of our relationship, almost 43 (! -- gulp!) years ago now. And long before I ever set foot in Toronto, he'd sung me the praises of the World's Biggest Bookstore (WBB) there. It was one of the first places he took me on one of my first visits to the city where we would eventually make our home. 

I was reminded of the WBB when the Toronto Star shared a recent first-person article marking 10 years since the store's demise. It ceased operations on March 30th, 2014, shortly before I lost my job that summer, and was demolished that November. It was not, as the article notes, actually the world's biggest bookstore -- but it was still pretty darn big. :)  Housed in a former bowling alley (!), it had none of the charm of cozy independent bookstores or even the polished, carpet-and-wood ambience of the mega-bookstore chain outlets. There was nowhere to sit (except maybe on the stairs?), no cafe serving elaborate hot and cold drinks, no tempting tchotchkes. 

But there were BOOKS.  Tons & tons of books, tens of thousands of titles, on two floors, stretching almost as far as the eye could see. Books on every topic under the sun. Bargain books, older titles as well as recent bestsellers, and lots of in-betweens. Titles you wouldn't find anywhere else, in those pre-mega-bookstore chain, pre-Internet, pre-Amazon days.  It was located just off Yonge Street, the main north-south street that divides Toronto into east and west, near the Toronto Eaton Centre mall and the subway (and, coincidentally, on the same street as the clinic where I went to have my ultrasounds done when I was in fertility treatment).  It was two subway stops north of where I worked, and I'd sometimes go there on my lunch hour -- although an hour (including subway and walking time there and back) was hardly enough for a truly satisfying browse. 

(I once stood in line there for my entire lunch hour to get the actor Charlton Heston -- one of my mother's favourites -- to sign a copy of his recently released memoir as a Christmas present for her.  This was pre-"Bowling for Columbine" and "From my cold dead hands," and while I was never the fan my mother was -- and less so when I realized what a gun nut he was -- it was still kind of cool to be standing in a line that stretched around the perimeter of the store, and hearing the booming baritone voice of Moses himself resonating from around the corner, lol.)    

Chapters/Indigo's big-box stores may be nicer (although they're not as nice as they used to be, nor as full of books, and most of the comfy seating has been removed over the years), and independent stores may be cozier and more personal, but the dearly departed World's Biggest Bookstore will always hold a special place in my heart (and dh's).  

Here's another first-person appreciation of the WBB

4 comments:

  1. Aaah, book stores. I still love them, even though I rarely buy hard copies anymore. And we don't really get the celebrity signings here in NZ. We're a little out of the way from the book marketing tour routes! lol I was once in a department store in London when they announced that Rick Stein (celebrity chef) was in the book department signing cookbooks. I whipped down there, and there was almost no-one in the line. But I wasn't spending 30 or 40 pounds on a book just to get him to sign it for me! lol Not to mention the weight it would add to my suitcase. haha Still, it was cool to see him in the flesh.

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  2. I love the wikipedia photo of the World's Biggest Bookstore, for some reason it just looks retro (of course now "retro" is super subjective and could be 1990s, haha). So many books! I think Barnes & Noble is the only place around here (other than the library) that has comfy seating. I think B&N and Indigo/Chapters are related, no? I love my little independent bookstores though. Hmmm, food for thought -- would you rather go someplace that has every title under the sun, or a smaller place that is carefully curated? I like having all options, but there's something about talking with an independent bookseller I adore. But shelves and shelves and shelves of books? Sounds heavenly!

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    1. I don't think the two stores are related, although I'm sure they're very similar! Chapters/Indigo was a public company, but they haven't been doing very well lately, and the CEO & her wealthy husband (Heather Reisman & Gerry Schwartz) are taking it private. She's also promised to cut back on the tchotchkes and expand the book selection (again). Duh. Maybe that's why they haven't been doing well lately??

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    2. And P.S. I love both kinds of bookstores too! :) We need both!

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