Iconic Toronto store abandoned and left to rot is for sale at just $1

The former home of Brooklyn Furniture at 3742 Bathurst St. has been around since 1958 and boasts a Mad Men-era design that was a recognizable landmark just south of Wilson for decades, before the store finally shuttered and relocated to a nearby location amid the brick-and-mortar retail crunch of the early 2020s.

After just a few years of decay, the building is currently in a sorry state, with boarded-up windows covering graffiti and shattered glass, and a general post-apocalyptic vibe.

While nobody is shopping here anymore, the building's decades-long use selling old-fashioned furniture is still apparent from its crumbling exterior.

 

 

 

 

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Its backlit sign has large shards broken away, revealing the long-darkened fluorescent tubes behind. A ghostly outline of the word "Brooklyn" is only partially visible, leaving just a stylized "Furniture" and most of the word "Emporium."

Despite its age and vintage appeal, the building has not been granted any form of heritage protection, and its fate was all but sealed long before the decay set in.

Brooklyn Furniture's departure from the Bathurst and Wilson site came amid planning for a mixed-use condominium complex incorporating the site that was successfully zoned for a pair of buildings rising 36 and 10 storeys.

However, with the condo market in shambles, the site joined the growing list of condo proposal sites in Toronto placed in receivership, and has been listed for sale at just $1 — a marketing tactic used to attract bids (no, you're not buying an abandoned furniture store for a dollar today, sorry.)

Though the listing makes the site's intensification value clear, it also comes with the caveat that the property is being sold in the dreaded 'as is, where is' condition, and it would be up to the buyer to realize its development potential.

For now, this mid-century gem is left to rot, a jarring casualty of the cratered condo market that — whether through demolition or demolition by neglect — is not long for this world.