Book City returns to Bloor West Village with new store

Bibliophiles, rejoice. After a string of bookstore closures in recent months, it seemed like the writing was on the wall for the written word in Toronto - but now, west-end book lovers can count one for the win column. Toronto bookstore chain Book City is pulling its Bloor West Village location, which closed in 2012, back out of the deadpool: A new Book City store is set to open at 2350 Bloor St. West, just a couple of doors down from the original.

The Bloor West Book City location was open for over 20 years before rising rents and tough competition from the Chapters location at Bloor and Runnymede forced the store's closure. The Chapters, in turn, went under earlier this year. Book City general manager Ian Donker told Quill and Quire he saw how upset residents were when both Book City and Chapters left the area, which led him to feel that there might still be a demand for a neighbourhood bookstore.

The new location, a former Telus store, was secured not long after the store's Annex store shut its doors in March, and hiring is underway for new staff (Book City has stated that none of the Annex store's staff would be moved to other locations). The new store, Donker said, will feature an increased number of books catering to families and younger readers - but true to the Book City chain, there'll be a little of everything for everyone.