On my way to meet an acquaintance to share dinner and literary repartee with on Friday night I strolled Toronto's Bloor Street book strip, which runs between Markham (just west of Honest Ed's) and Spadina. This area houses some of Toronto's most venerable booksellers, including David Mirvish Books (596 Markham Street, selling books on art, architecture, design, and culture), Ballenford Books (architecture and design, 600 Markham Street), The Beguiling (comic books and graphic novels, 601 Markham Street), A Different Booklist (746 Bathurst, just north of Bloor), the recently-gone-electronic-only Annex Books (formerly at 1083 Bathurst) , Book City (501 Bloor Street West), Seekers Books (general used and spirituality, 509 Bloor Street West), and the strip's latest addition, BMV Books (471 Bloor Street).

I have followed with considerable interest the multifaceted flutter accompanying BMV Books' expansion to the large and highly visible Bloor Street location (its third venue, having been for many years a fixture beside the now-Chapters-owned World's Biggest Bookstore at 10 Edward Street and running a location on Yonge). Some commentators suggest that even as a small chain selling primarily used books, BMV is closer in style to the Chapters/Indigo corporate model than Book City, itself a chain with five locations across Toronto. BMV has been described as a 'big box' store selling remaindered former bestsellers and large-volume discounted titles, a threat to 'independent' local bookstores and publishers, and a nail in the coffin shuttering the storefront locations of Annex Books and Abelard Books (both reportedly becoming appointment-only and electronic sellers). BMV has also been described in glowing terms, most notably through comparisons to New York City's Strand Bookstore. As recently as 2005, Toronto's Eye Weekly tabloid recommended BMV Books as a way to "bypass the big chains," and in August 2006 (after BMV had announced its expansion into the Annex) Now identified BMV Books as one of Toronto's best used bookstores.

Given that these narratives seem too divergent to meet, which is it? Is BMV Books really Toronto's latest literary anti-Christ? Or is its presence a sign of vibrancy in the city's book trade, an indication that even used books can be sexy and even controversial?

It's my own view that, in general, any bookstore is a good bookstore, and any bookstore opening is a reason for optimism that our culture hasn't given up on printed text. Certainly bookstores can be subject to the same criticisms we might apply to any other kind of corporate enterprise (although I'd argue that even a corrupt capitalist bookseller is better than none at all: it might be quite unpleasant to consider a city dominated by a single bookseller, but have you ever lived in a community or even a neighbourhood without any bookstore at all?) But before the romantic/reactionary rhetoric about BMV Books goes too far, I'd like to suggest some clear thinking about what BMV Books is and does.

Writer and micropress publisher Sandra Alland has written a very good essay on the state of book publishing and selling in Toronto; her essay appears in The State of the Arts: Culture in Toronto (Coach House, 2006). Alland's essay includes a series of checklists you can use to evaluate whether a bookseller engages in fair trade, including the following:

* Do featured readings and books reflect the community immediately surrounding the store?
* Is there a community bulletin board?
* Are local writers featured?
* Does the store give attention to books regardless of the publisher's wallet?
* Does the company avoid paying benefits by hiring only part-time workers?
* Does this bookstore waste energy by leaving its doors open in summer and winter?

To which I would add:

* Does the store sell a disproportionate quantity of remaindered/overstock titles?
* Does the store special-order (or keep an eye out for) controversial or rare titles customers request?
* Does the store devote prominent shelf-space to high-budget magazines?
* if it's a used bookseller, will the store purchase or trade your unwanted books at reasonable prices?
* is the store designed to be accessible to visitors with wheelchairs or strollers?

Alland's template (tweaked with a few additional suggestions) seems like one useful tool for assessing not only BMV, but any other new or used bookseller in the city. And applying it produces some surprising results. Book City, a favourite of literary progressives, is in my experience a real energy-waster, and most or all of its locations are not wheelchair/stroller accessible. Chapters/Indigo often features readings by local authors (provided they are bestsellers represented by major publishers), has programs supporting local schools, maintains community bulletin boards in the locations I frequent, and has mainly accessible locations. Most booksellers I know of rely primarily on part-time staff. And both Chapters/Indigo and Book City devote considerable floorspace to remaindered/overstocked titles. Book City, in fact, is a reliable source of remaindered award-winning Toronto novels as soon as a year after they are published, something I have always thought of as a terrible pity.

And BMV? I don't recall if BMV maintains a community bulletin board, but I do know its Edward Street and Annex locations are deeply reflective of their neighbourhoods. At the Annex location, BMV's philosophy section is close to the entrance, reflecting proximity to the University of Toronto or perhaps merely local conceit. BMV has several shelves of Toronto history titles, including rare books I have been unable to locate elsewhere. I even found a copy of Daniel Jones' The People One Knows (an unexpected gem) in the Canadian literature section at the new store (it was still there last Friday, suggesting Annex readers either have their own copies already or aren't as hip to the city's literature as they like to think). BMV isn't accessible at its front door, although I think there is room for a ramp built to building-code standards along its facade. BMV sells a lot of remaindered/overstock titles, but its stock is primarily used, and its titles run well beyond stale-dated bestsellers and the kinds of novels you read in undergraduate courses. The Annex location has by far the best selection of second-hand (pace, Bakka-Phoenix) science fiction in the city, and these aren't just recent pulp but include scads of old classics.

But perhaps this inventory fails to ask one more vital question: is BMV's expansion driven by a monopolistic corporate mentality, and is the new store likely to drive other booksellers out of business? And you know, I think the answer to this question depends less on BMV itself and more on the city's readers ourselves.

Alland's excellent essay focuses primarily on the motives and practices of book publishers and booksellers. But while we're judging booksellers, perhaps we might engage in some self-reflection and consider our own book buying habits. Where do you shop for books? How much are you like the character Alland describes at the beginning of her essay, "dressed head to toe in hemp ... [and] reading a book he just pulled from the Chapters-Indigo bag at his feet"? I know that whenever I go into the Annex BMV location, I run into the same social justice crowd I encounter plotting the revolution at Future's Bakery. When I shop at the Chapters/Indigo in my part of town (located in a beautifully restored former theatre at the corner of Bloor and Runnymede), I run into my organic-buying, NDP-voting neighbours.

I myself am a wantonly promiscuous book purchaser. I shop at Chapters/Indigo, usually just after I have browsed Book City. I buy books online through Amazon.ca, through ABEBooks.com, through Alibris.com, and sometimes through big and small presses themselves. I pick books out of the garbage and buy many hundreds each year at garage sales and university/college book sales. I frequent most of the city's used bookstores, and in fact have a semi-regular trolling route. In a typical week I will buy at least a dozen books, usually more. But I cruise widely. I play the field. And while Eliot's (584 Yonge), followed by Pandemonium (2862 Dundas West at Keele) and Babel Books (123 Ossington just north of Queen) remain my favourite used bookstores in this city, I have been delighted to add BMV Books to my book-buying travels (and to the Toronto bookstore guide I maintain as part of the Imagining Toronto project).

It is my strongly held view that we should applaud any bookstore that opens in Toronto. I'd add that a used bookstore (like BMV) opening up in multiple locations seems a gutsy thing indeed. And if you think any particular bookstore is getting too big for its britches, go down the street and shop at the next one for a change. or better yet, frequent all of them.

[Bookstore image by Striatic and used here under the aegis of a Creative Commons license.]

1. While I applaud BMV and I absolutely love the store on the Bloor (after all I live in the Annex), I am rather miffed about the construction job done. They spent $1 million rebuilding the place (number from The Toronto Star) yet they opened up with an enormous step into the front door and at least three steps half-way down the first floor. I don’t understand how buildings can be build this day and age and NOT be accessible. I’m not asking for an elevator, this is obviously very expensive, but the cost of a cut-out in front or a ramp in the middle would be minimal and would at least make the entry way and first floor accessible. This is really sad I must say and now I have to avoid what otherwise is a great bookstore.

   P.S. When I politely mentioned this to a manager I was fairly rudely dismissed.

   Posted by Stephen  on  01/23  at  12:01 PM

2. Great Article. Whenever I visit TO, I love to hit up the smaller bookstores, but admit going to the larger ones also. I do have a question I have to ask, that I hope you can help me with. I’ve tried upping my reading list, and do read at least a book a week (I’m 5 for 4 so far). My question, it sounds like you read tons more than I could even hope to. I read, I think, at about 450-500 words a minute. Do I just read slow? mAybe this is a dumb question, but I have people tell me they don’t have time to read as much as i do, but then I read this site and I feel like I could read more. I do whenever I can now.

   Posted by  on  01/23  at  12:20 PM

3. I had the same thought about the ramp, Stephen. However, perhaps the building owners decided that since the store would not be accessible inside (given the high cost of elevator infrastructure, which would itself require further structural work, and because even a ramp to the elevated majority of the ground floor would take up much of the entrance,) it didn’t make sense to have a ramp at the entrance. I am not an engineer or architect, but in my decade as an urban planner I learned that $1 million in retrofitting costs gets eaten up pretty rapidly even before you get into major structural alterations, especially in an older building.

   An irony, of course, is that ‘big box’ stores in the suburbs are often more accessible because of their newer, roomier construction. It’s just almost impossible to get to them without a car, meaning that one form of accessibility is traded off against another.

   As a matter of public policy, I agree that new commercial construction should be required to be barrier-free. In many cases it is. But it is much more difficult to impose these same standards on retrofits in the older parts of the city, where sidewalks are narrow and many building designs don’t accommodate structural changes to accommodate accessibility.

   In the meantime, though, I don’t see why BMV could not have created a ramp at its entrance and made provision for a chair lift to make its ground floor accessible (cost and legal liability notwithstanding, at the very least space could have been made so these things could be installed at a later date). At the very least, store staff and managers should make a point of being helpful to customers seeking assistance.

   Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  01/23  at  12:44 PM

4. Hey Steve;

   I think that what and how fast anybody reads much be right for them. I have no idea how many words I read in a minute, but I read a lot because reading and writing is my job (as well as my main leisure pursuit and shameful addiction). Different kinds of material also call for different kinds of reading. If you can read a book every day or two, I think that’s terribly impressive, especially if your job is not book-focused. And the point, in the end, is not how much a person reads but how much they get out of it.

   By the way, I’ve been reading Tanya Huff’s Toronto-vampire-detective novel Blood Price (1991, the first in a series) for several weeks and still haven’t finished it, although it’s only 272 pages in mass market paperback. It’s taken so long because I read it on the subway and also because I keep falling off my chair laughing at her witty writing. Some books take a long time to read because they’re dense; others because they’re worth taking the time to enjoy.

   Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  01/23  at  01:02 PM

5. Yeah, I agree, it’s not a race, i was just kind of comparing myself (which I know I shouldn’t do because we are all unique, every one of us: – )
   I’m definitely in the quality-over-quanity camp also. Thanks.
   Love the site.

   Posted by  on  01/23  at  01:13 PM

6. Is BMV bad for smaller booksellers? Probably. Will it drive them out of business? Probably not.

   I don’t go to BMV for some of the same reasons I don’t go to Chapters or Book City. Book shopping isn’t just about the exchange of legal tender for bound pulp: it’s the experience – which is why I’ll always favour the more eclectic and folksy joints like Balfour, Monkey’s Paw, Zoinks, This Ain’t The Rosedale Library, etc.

   These places will always have customers, because they have a sense of scale, and because there will always be people who don’t want to simply retreive their reading material from a warehouse, for whom the act of buying a book is just a minor transaction in a larger conversation.

   Posted by Smitty  on  01/23  at  01:44 PM

7. Checked out Zoinks! when I was up there last weekend. Cool Store. Will definitely be going back again.

   Posted by  on  01/23  at  02:42 PM

8. I haven’t been to Zoinks! (yet), but have just added it to the list of Toronto booksellers I maintain here.

   Know about Toronto booksellers that aren’t mentioned? Let me know and I’ll add (and visit) them!

   In my view, the used Toronto bookstore that lives up to every creaky, old bookstore archetype (although I’ve never seen a cat there) is Eliot’s, located at 584 Yonge (west side of the street), a little south of Bloor. On the second of three floors, there’s almost a complete wall of Canadian literature, including a lot of Toronto literary titles. A wonderful place.

   Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  01/23  at  03:12 PM

9. Amy:

   I appreciate the problems with retrofitting older buildings, especially downtown. Many of these buildings were simply not built to be barrier-free. I’m not even upset with BMV for not provided an elevator. I understand that these things are costly and require structural changes which are not always possible. (Though I would like to see a fund of some sort to help small business become barrier-free)

   However, what I found especially upsetting is that there was absolute disregard by BMV for the needs of its disabled patrons. They are the only building on the strip with an entry step. There is no reason a small ramp could not exist (or chair lift) on the main floor. These are simple oversights by people who were not thinking of these important issues. (exactly why laws and codes are needed) From what I’ve read, the building was completely gutted in construction, making these two things a conscious choice. Really, it would be quite cheap to cut the front step like the city cuts its curbs. Even if the rest of the store wasn’t accessible, at least people would be able to enter the store and ask for what they are looking for, and still be patrons.

   P.S. Their reaction to my inquire certainly didn’t help my mood.

   Posted by Stephen  on  01/23  at  03:30 PM

10. My circuit includes Zoinks! Also: She Said Boom and Balfour Books. There are so many great second hand shops! Mostly I purchase art books, most recent being a big book on DeKooning.

    Posted by Tim  on  01/23  at  11:13 PM

11. Amy, thanks for linking to your bookseller site. Yum.

    And I’ll have to check out Eliot’s sometime… even if it is downtown :)

    Posted by Smitty  on  01/24  at  01:52 AM

12. Heh! Tim, Steve, Smitty: It sounds as if book trolling is very much a geographically referenced pursuit. Tim: I’m going to guess you live somewhere in the square bordered by Dufferin, Dupont, Bathurst and Dundas West. Smitty: Toronto Poetry Slam events happen all over the city; you could always sneak out for a quick-and-dirty book browse. Steve: can’t figure your location out. East?

    What factors feature into your book jaunts? Transit accessibility? Walk-in convenience? Whether there’s music too? General ambiance? Convivial politics among the staff and titles? Particular genres or subject areas? Do you ever go to bookstores by plan, or simply end up there while running errands or passing by the neighbourhood/city?

    Even though I have specific research reasons for frequenting Toronto’s bookstores, most of my visits are still linked to whether I’m also running other errands or meeting someone in the neighbourhood. Having said that, I’ll organize my trip downtown so that my commute (by bike most of the year) from the Junction passes by as many bookstores as possible. I like bookstores where the staff are knowledgeable but not “bookier than thou”. I like to encounter dogs and cats in bookstores. I like well-organized stock (alphabetized, preferably). Dust. Poetry. Ladders. Leering at the books other patrons are looking at. Going home with a treasure load and then sitting on the living room floor opening and smelling them all. Heh.

    Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  01/24  at  09:49 AM
14. "Steve: can’t figure your location out. East?" Across the pond, Rochester, NY. I'm a "T'ranna-Wannabe" I think I care/know more about what's happening in TO than I do here.
    
    Posted by  on  {comment_date format=’%m/%d’}  at  {comment_date format=’%h:%i %A’}
Posted by  on  01/24  at  02:35 PM

15. Too bad about the ferry, eh?!

    So that’s what you meant when you said “up there”. I decided it must have meant “up stream” rather than “up north”.

    Geography still matters even (especially?) in a digital world …

    Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  01/24  at  04:45 PM

16. yeah, this city (Rochester) proved once again that it can’t do anything right. I hope they come up with something. Would be cool to come to TO and not have to drive. Just hop on a boat, with my bike and a book, and be in TO a couple of hours.

    Posted by  on  01/25  at  11:45 AM

17. The Edward Street BMV is my favourite bookstore in the city, but when I went to the Annex location for the first time just before Christmas, I wasn’t thrilled. It was way too big, and there were a lot of fairly empty shelves (although those will probably be filled by used books as they build up their stock.) It just didn’t feel as relaxed and comfortable as the downtown location.

    I love Zoinks! too, especially since it’s in my neighbourhood. You might want to mention in your guide that 1019 Bloor W is a new location – their old store was also on Bloor between Dufferin and Ossington, but closer to Ossington and on the north side. If I hadn’t gone to their site I wouldn’t have realized they’d moved (I haven’t been there in a few months.)

    Love the guide – there are so many used bookstores in the city that I’ve never checked out.

    Posted by Enyonam  on  01/26  at  01:08 PM

18. do they accept used books for cash or trade?

    Posted by raymi  on  01/27  at  07:04 PM

19. Hey Raymi; It appears (from undated references I’ve just seen online) that BMV does purchase used books via walk-in. It’s always worth calling ahead to check (a) whether a bookstore does purchase/trade books, and (b) whether they are interested in what you’ve got.

    Don’t know about Zoinks!. They’ve got a website at zoinks.ca.

    I do know that Eliot’s (584 Yonge, south of Bloor) does purchase books from customers.

    Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  01/28  at  05:20 AM

20. BMV buys books that have been stolen from Chapters/Indigo etc. There is no ramp because the owner doesn’t care about people.

    Posted by Gabriela  on  02/02  at  09:59 PM

21. Quite the charge, Gabriela. If true, it would make BMV Books a favourite with the property-is-theft set.

    Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  02/03  at  09:46 AM

22. what is the property-is-theft set?

    Posted by a reader  on  02/03  at  05:21 PM

23. Try here at Wikipedia for a short commentary.

    Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  02/03  at  08:51 PM

24. Amy:
    It’s interesting that you have noted the support which Chapters/Indigo gives to local schools. Your readers should also know is that the majority owners of Chapters/Indigo – Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz – founded the HESEG Foundation which at its peak will distribute up to $3M per year to provide scholarships and other support to former “lone soldiers” in the Israeli military (http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=6791). Lone soldiers are people with no family ties to Israel who go there principally to serve in the Israeli military. According to B’tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, 811 Palestinian minors have been killed by the Israeli military since September 2000 (with 140 killed in 2006 alone) and another 364 minors are currently being held in Israeli detention centers and prisons throughout historic Palestine.

    I encourage your readers to join the boycott of Chapters and Indigo until their majority owners publicly announce that they have cut all financial ties with the Heseg Foundation. For more information see http://www.caiaweb.org

    Posted by  on  02/27  at  01:40 AM

25. This is not relevant to your discussion but I am a nubee at the cyberlife.My problem is …wher can I find back issues of Harrowsmith,Zoom photography(French 1980’s),and CannabisCanada,CannabisCulture…as my personal effects were stolen by some evil people whom I wish would drop off of the surface of this particular planet…P.S. I’m not rich,so…any thoughts? or incantations?! Thanks.

    Posted by  on  04/06  at  10:12 PM

26. Thanks for the insightful article, enjoyed reading the comments exchange.

    I too like to take a balanced approach to book shopping, patronising Toronto independent booksellers when I can, and also popping into the bigger box stores to monitor their selections and occasionally purchase a book now & then.

    I’d love to read more of this type of article!

    Posted by  on  05/24  at  06:02 AM

27. Thanks for the insightful article and the comments exchanged here.

    I too like to take a balanced approach to book shopping, patronising independent booksellers in Toronto when I can, and also popping into the bigger box stores to monitor their selections and occasionally make a purchase or two.

    Posted by  on  05/24  at  06:04 AM

28. Christine—Thanks for the comment. Any particular favourites in your list of Toronto bookstores?

    Ray—these days it’s sometimes possible to find back issues of magazines online via eBay and other websites. My best suggestion, though, would be to keep your eye out at garage sales. Craigslist.org might also help—it’s amazing what people’s got in their basements that they’d love someone to take off their hands. Best of luck!

    Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  05/24  at  08:01 AM

29. Amy, besides BMV, I also enjoy browsing around Eliot’s Bookshop for used books. I’m not familiar with the other used booksellers you mention, but I’m sure I’ll find a reason to stroll by those west side neighbourhoods soon.

    Other bookshops I regularly patronise are the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, Glad Day and Another Story. I really liked the Children’s Bookstore when it was around on Yonge north of Eglinton. Very sorry still it’s gone. On principal I won’t transfer my purchase habits there to Chapters/Indigo…

    Posted by  on  05/26  at  02:58 AM

30. Hey Christine;

    [Nice to meet you here and elsewhere.]

    I also loved the Children’s Bookstore! Mabel’s Fables (662 Mount Pleasant Road) continues, I hear, to be a good source of children’s books.

    By the way, I was in the Eaton Centre Indigo yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised to see (on the second floor near the stairs) a large table featuring Toronto authors and works about Toronto. For all of Chapters/Indigo’s real and alleged faults, it does appear to ‘get it’ enough to feature local stories. I would, however, like to see (more?) small press works featured alongside those of major publishers.

    Posted by Amy Lavender Harris  on  05/26  at  06:33 AM

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