TORONTO – Your friendly neighbourhood book store is returning to Bloor West Village more than two years after closing up shop.
Book City has secured a new location at 2354 Bloor Street West, just two doors down from its former spot and is set to open next month.
“With all the negativity of closing stores and that type of thing we really wanted to do something positive,” says general manager Ian Donker. “It was something that made sense, that was positive and it feels good to do.”
The return comes after the Chapters store closure at Bloor Street West & Runnymede Road. High rents in the area were largely to blame for both community favourites closing.
“Obviously with the announcement of Chapters leaving and there is a void that we decided to fill,” Donkers says. “We were lucky enough to find a location that allowed us to move in.”
Book City recently closed its Annex location after 38 years. That led to 14 people losing their jobs. A new manager has been hired for Bloor West and new part-time staff are also being hired in the next few weeks.
Chapters has announced the closure of other locations while a number of small, independent book stores have gone out of business over the last few of years as well.
The Bloor West Village BIA welcomes back what was a place for people to come together for more than 20 years. “If they can make ends meet, I think it’s good to have them because it’s a meeting place,” former BIA chair Alex Ling says. “More of a meeting place now than ever and I think the residents love it.”
The new Bloor West location is 1800 sq. ft. space, previously occupied by a Telus store. Book City has three other locations on Danforth Ave., Queen St. East and Yonge St. south of St. Clair Ave.
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