Downtown Chapters location to close in May

Watch the video above: Another Toronto bookstore is set to close. Cindy Pom reports. 

TORONTO – Another bookstore is closing.

Chapters’ flagship store at the corner of John Street and Richmond Street will be closing on May 30.

In a statement to Global News a spokesperson for the company said they chose not to renew their lease at the downtown Toronto location that has been there since 1999.

The statement goes on to say the company is looking at other “real estate options” in downtown Toronto, Bloor West Village and Oakville. Their Chapters location in Bloor West Village closed Monday.

Avi Goldfarb, a professor of marketing at the Rotman School of Management was surprised that Chapters was choosing to close a flagship location but noted, store closures are a common thing in today’s book industry.

“Book stores have been closing just like record stores and CD stores have been closing,” he said Tuesday. “The general trend is towards less need for book stores.”

Bookstores across Toronto have been closing in recent months. In the last year, the World’s Biggest Bookstore, the Runnymede Chapters location, Book City’s Annex location, Steven Temple Books and Nicholas Hoare books have closed.

Despite the string of closures, Goldfarb suggested there is still a need for book stores.

“It’s not the end. There’s still room for lots of book stores, there just isn’t room for as many as there used to be,” he said. “They’re a place to hangout and to browse and to shop.”

– With files from Cindy Pom