Book City in the Annex will close its doors this spring. I write a lot of deadpool posts on this site, but this one really stings. While I've been bemoaned the passing of bookstores like Pages and This Ain't the Rosedale Library in the past, this Book City has been my local go-to for about decade. Open late with friendly staff and plenty of cheap books to go along with above average cultural studies and fiction sections, this was your quintessential neighbourhood book shop.

Unsurprisingly, the planned closure is a familiar story. With the store's lease up, ownership decided it just didn't make sense financially to continue on. "We agonized over the decision," general manager Ian Donker told Quill & Quire. "But sadly it didn't make much economic sense to continue... Rent goes up every single year. Sales have slipped for a number of years, through no fault of the staff or our efforts."

Locations at Yonge and St. Clair, the Danforth and the Beaches will continue on, but staff at the Annex location will be not be transferred to other stores. Get in there and say goodbye while you can. The store will surely be missed.