Book Scene: Bye Bye Indies
It's sad to see, but bookstores are a-closin'
- Annex Books (Bathurst), Abelard (Queen) - I hardly knew ye (which is my own fault, they've been around for ages). But I just moved to the annex, pratically next door to Annex Books, and I won't have much of a chance to visit. Alas.
Why? Rent. The profit margin for shops that actually sell books (rather than 'lifestyle items', ahem, toys, bath salts, and other, um, literary accoutrement) is quite small. Bigger bookstores can reap in huge profits from remaindered titles, get bigger discounts from publishers because they buy larger quantities, and keep customers with the lower prices (paid for by the margin on the aforementioned tchotchkes).
Expenses go up, profits stay level, even at this time of year. This is where I make some comment about the good old days, right?
So I'd like to take a moment to remind you that in indies, generally speaking, you won't necessarily find a five dollar bin, but you will find knowledgeable staff who can offer you something besides the top ten best-sellers or the cookbook section when you want recommendations. And you'll support the local economy. (And they have the best author events).
Remember to support indies like Pages, This Ain't the Rosedale Library, Book City, Toronto Women's Bookstore, et al (the list gets shorter and shorter) when you do your holiday shopping. You'll love it, I promise.
P.S. It's the season for indie upsets, apparently. Book industry people are all agog over the news that longtime Nicholas Hoare manager Ben McNally has tendered his resignation. The store will continue, but really, what's the Enterprise without Captain Kirk?
Comments (8)
Large bookstore chains can also charge publishing companies obscene amounts of money for a good shelf or window placement and do all sorts of dirty tricks. I took a course on Canadian book publishing and it was so depressing.
I love This Ain't The Rosedale library. They always have great books and magazines, and even a good sale selection. My dog tries to go in every time we walk by. And dogs know a good thing.
Ben McNally's resignation made me super sad. The fact that Annex Books is closing makes this a very bleak Monday on the book scene.
"I walk to tha' corner past the rubble that usedta be the library, line up to the mind cemetery."
-RATM
Libraries, indie book stores, anything that people won't get at Wal-Mart or Amazon, all sharing the same sad fate. It's too bad, and people won't realize or regret it until the last one is gone. But really, I'm from America, and what I see here is almost this disdain for anything literate. I come from a country that disliked John kerry because "he was one o' dem intellectual types", so they voted for George Bush, a complete moron.
I was able to visit Balfour Books while visiting Toronto, cool little store, great people AND they had a dog hangin' out at the store..how cool is that?!
every loss is a sad one, but there are still plenty of indie bookshops around! and semi-indie ones opening (i.e. the huge new BMV on Bloor). Don't despair yet!!
AND there is Type books which JUST opened this year at Trinity Bellwoods. A whole new indie bookstore, I couldn't believe my eyes.
Howev, N Hoare will always be my fave. It's so sacred in there, it's like a church of books.
View More Events
Suggest an Event
Join the blogTO Flickr group
Join the blogTO YouTube Group
RSS