Comments on: Best downtown Toronto bookstores

Question: Best downtown Toronto bookstores

storybored — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:38:06 -0800

I'll be in downtown Toronto early next week with some free time - what are the best bookstores downtown for browsing?

By: meerkatty

meerkatty — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:40:44 -0800

Nicholas Hoare & Ben McNally

By: gursky

gursky — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:58:59 -0800

i really like Eliot's Bookshop.

By: saucysault

saucysault — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:04:18 -0800

Small, and focusing on cultural studies, but I really like Pages.

By: krunk

krunk — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:21:07 -0800

Pages is great, as is Type. Swipe is an excellent store for design books.

Note that as of last night, the Toronto Transit Committee is on strike -- hope that doesn't affect your travel plans!

By: unSane

unSane — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:16:46 -0800

I'm a fan of The World's Biggest Bookstore.

By: davetill

davetill — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:29:05 -0800

More votes for Pages and Nicholas Hoare.

Book City is also good - there are several of them scattered throughout the city.

And, though the Chapters on John Street is part of a chain, it's just down the street from Pages, so you can hit them both on the same trip.

By: atropos

atropos — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:51:06 -0800

My favourite bookstore in the world is Ten Editions at 698 Spadina Ave. I spent hours and hours there when I lived in Toronto. Every time I go back it is one of my first stops.

By: Animus

Animus — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:14:06 -0800

If you are into Science Fiction and Fantasy you have to check out Bakka Books.

By: SoftRain

SoftRain — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:20:25 -0800

Second for Eliot's, Pages, Type, and Book City.

Also, Balfour Books in Little Italy is also fabulous.

By: thenormshow

thenormshow — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:06:16 -0800

There's a big BMV on Bloor, just east of Bathurst on the South side. I always find something good there.

By: storybored

storybored — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:03:14 -0800

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm going to hit them all. I sally forth to book browse posthaste! (and the transit strike looks like it's over for now too!)

By: chunking express

chunking express — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:08:16 -0800

Pages is great.

Though, downtown is pretty big, so you might want to say where exactly downtown you'll be. It's not like you can just walk between a lot of the ones suggested.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:26:24 -0800

I love browsing at Pages but the staff are hands-down the rudest collectively of any store in Toronto. They rarely say please or thank you and never you're welcome. I usually browse there, right down titles, and buy at a friendlier shop. I like Type and Swipe a lot. Type has friendly staff but they usually play dreadful dreadful music there (classic rock or radio with lots of ads) which makes it hard to concentrate if you're the type of person that likes to read a chapter before deciding if you want to buy.

Balfour Books is indeed a fantastic shop and one of my favorite places in the city. (And, if you're looking for a place to grab a bite, Utopia Cafe is just down the street from it and is fantastic!)

Not sure if it's still there but Another Man's Poison an McCaul used to be a great shop for architecture/design related books.

I can't believe no one's mentioned David Mirvish Books yet. Terrific shop, friendly staff.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:28:07 -0800

The BMV that thenormshow mentions is actually closer to Spadina Station (1.5 blocks west of it) than Bathurst (about 5 blocks east of it).

By: Recbooks

Recbooks — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:47:46 -0800

You are always more than welcome to visit us here at The Recycled Book Shop!

An eclectic collection of most, specializations are literature and Art. On McCaul Street (just north of the AGO) and you can always slip onto Baldwin Street for a bite to eat.