{"id":175675,"date":"2026-04-25T09:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T09:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/175675\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T09:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T09:40:07","slug":"torontos-best-independent-bookstores-keep-the-city-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/175675\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto\u2019s best independent bookstores keep the city reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto has a storied history of independent bookstores<\/a>. What other metropolis could simultaneously boast both the world\u2019s oldest surviving LGBTQ+ bookstore (56-year-old Glad Day<\/a>, now at 32 Lisgar St.) and the World\u2019s Biggest Bookstore<\/a>, whose 17 miles of shelves emptied for the last time in 2014?<\/p>\n

Big box stores, rising rents and Amazon have claimed a depressing number of victims \u2014 the ghost facade of Albert Britnell, operated by the same family for 80 years before it closed in 1999 to be replaced by a now-also-shuttered Starbucks, acts like literal writing on the wall at 765 Yonge St. But a thriving remainder of brick-and-mortar booksellers still dot the city, keeping Toronto\u2019s bookworms fed.<\/p>\n

To mark Canadian Independent Bookstore Day on April 25, we asked Star readers to share their favourite haunts. These are the five bookshops that keep Toronto staying up late to read just one more chapter.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Siblings Danielle and Rupert McNally run Ben McNally, which was founded by their father.<\/p>\n

Nick Lachance\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

1. Ben McNally Books (108 Queen St. E.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a juxtaposition that would feel almost too pat in a book. In the shadow of yet another condo crane towering over a neighbourhood in rapid transformation, Ben McNally\u2019s mahogany-hued shelves, wallpaper that resembles the end papers of a rare 19th-century tome, and an overall genteel calm read like the sort of intellectual haven patronized by Torontonians back when the city was known as York.<\/p>\n

In fact, the bookstore only moved into this location at Queen and Jarvis three years ago after a period of peripatetic upheaval. The shop resided on Bay Street for more than a decade after veteran bookseller Ben McNally decided to pursue his lifelong dream on the eve of the financial crisis. A landlord who didn\u2019t renew the lease in 2019 turned out to be an unintentional benefactor when this made the shop move to temporary locations to weather the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Some things have stayed the same \u2014 the distinctive shelves, for instance, were brought over from Bay Street \u2014 but the new location does have \u201cmore of a lived-in atmosphere, more of a neighbourhood feel. Something novel mixed with something familiar, just like the perfect book,\u201d said Rupert McNally, who with his sister Danielle, took over the store last summer from their father. \u201cLuckily for all of us, he\u2019s still available as a sounding board and a wealth of insight and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben McNally moved to Queen and Jarvis after residing on Bay Street for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Nick Lachance\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

Saba Lightfoot, a regular over the past couple years, told the Star it\u2019s the first bookstore he recommends. \u201cThe selection is incredible; there\u2019s a perfect balance of casualness and sophistication that makes it approachable,\u201d he said. \u201cRupert has recommended books genuinely tailored to my liking while also pushing me toward authors I wouldn\u2019t have found on my own. It\u2019s not an algorithm or BookTok telling you what to read. It\u2019s a very human experience, and that keeps drawing me back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to their signature \u201cBook a Month\u201d program \u2014 where Rupert and Danielle pick a book in line with your tastes; some entire families are signed up \u2014 Lightfoot is in at least one a month, if not more often. \u201cIn an age of instant checkouts and contactless delivery, there\u2019s an enduring charm to this place that I feel compelled to support,\u201d he said. \u201cIn five or 10 years, I want my kids to be the ones asking if we can go to Ben McNally\u2019s. Until then I will keep visiting and reading as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been lucky enough to sell at some of the biggest events in the city, to be on the jury for one of the biggest literary prizes, and to give book presentations to hundreds of people at a time,\u201d Rupert said, \u201cbut absolutely nothing compares with talking to other readers about good books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring pick: \u201cOn the Calculation of Volume (Book IV)\u201d by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell. \u201cWhat I love about it,\u201d McNally said, \u201capart from having a good book to talk to Danielle about, is Balle\u2019s use of a science-fiction trope (a day endlessly repeating for the protagonist and only a few others). But where you might expect adventure and plot twists, here you get introspection, meditation and even mundanity. Life is full of your world changing without any other aspect of the world being changed, and somehow that side of this book really strikes home for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GreatEscapeBookStore<\/p>\n

\u201cThe store wouldn\u2019t be the same without her,\u201d said The Great Escape\u2019s Katy Nosko said of Scout.<\/p>\n

R.J. Johnston\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

2. The Great Escape Book Store (957 Kingston Rd.)<\/p>\n

From floor to ceiling, piled high on flat surfaces and double-stacked on shelves, books \u201cnew, old and older\u201d cover nearly every spare inch of this beloved east end stalwart. The remaining free space is filled with trinkets and knick-knacks, equally eclectic. Out back, there\u2019s a garden where, in the warmer months, customers can relax with their latest finds. \u201c\u2018Cosy\u2019 is a word that often gets used to describe our store,\u201d says owner Katya Nosko, who runs it with her son Caleb Mitchell.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a bookstore at this storefront on Kingston Road since 1976 \u2014 Budget Book Store, then Ed\u2019s \u2014 but it only became The Great Escape in 1996, when retired Toronto schoolteachers Bruce and Marg Ewing took over, renaming it after the 1963 film about Allied prisoners breaking out of a German PoW camp. \u201cFor the Ewings, reading was a perfect way to escape the trials and tribulations of our daily lives,\u201d said Nosko. Unbeknownst to them, one of the heroes of the true story that inspired the film, Wally \u201cThe Tunnel King\u201d Floody, lived two blocks from the store.<\/p>\n

\"GreatEscapeBookStore<\/p>\n

Katy Nosko helps a customer at The Great Escape, one of Toronto\u2019s favourite bookstores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

R.J. Johnston Toronto Star<\/p>\n

Fifty years in, the store \u2014 which hosts an annual Book & Film Club series with the Fox Theatre \u2014 remains a proudly analog paradise. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a computer and we don\u2019t sell online. We still write things down on paper and the only catalogue we have is in our heads,\u201d said Nosko, who added that Caleb creates all their posters, window displays and branding himself. \u201cOur customers come because they love the nostalgic experience of a used book shop like ours, and because they see their support for us as part of the fight for sustainability and humanistic ideals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another huge draw? Scout, the six-year-old store dog. \u201cCustomers young and old come in regularly just to visit with her, and we often hear a \u2018Hi, Scout!\u2019 before they\u2019ve even gotten past the threshold,\u201d Nosko said. \u201cThe store wouldn\u2019t be the same without her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean Clement, a regular customer, is one such fan. \u201cIf there was ever a better store dog, I\u2019ve yet to meet them,\u201d he said. \u201cThough she\u2019s still young, she has the wizened eyebrows of a philosopher and the disposition of a retiree.\u201d<\/p>\n

The atmosphere at Great Escape is unique in the city, Clement added. \u201cIt feels like a bookstore should: an open secret, mysterious but welcoming, a place where you\u2019ll find what you were looking for and a few things you weren\u2019t. I\u2019ve seen modern novels side by side with an 1880s edition of Mark Twain. I once came in for a quick look and ended up learning that Katya once traded a few books for a stuffed caiman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring pick: \u201cNorth Woods\u201d by Daniel Mason. \u201cIt\u2019s a gorgeous telling of the history and life of a cabin, its inhabitants, and the little forest in which it is nestled,\u201d said Nosko. \u201cThe vignettes are beautiful, sometimes scary, sometimes magical, but clear-eyed in showing who we are and how we treat our earthly paradise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specialty bookstores<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a book for everyone \u2014 and in Toronto, there\u2019s a specialist bookstore to cater to almost every niche literary yen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sleuth of Baker Street (907 Millwood Rd.)<\/p>\n

Case closed: This Leaside gem is home to the city\u2019s best selection of crime and mystery books. Because the owners are semi-retired, it\u2019s only open a few days per week but always available to investigate rare titles and take special orders.<\/p>\n

The Beguiling (319 College St.)<\/p>\n

The\u00a0destination in Toronto for comics, graphic novels and manga \u2014 the more alt and avant-garde, the better \u2014 since 1987.<\/p>\n

Bakka-Phoenix Books (84 Harbord St.)<\/p>\n

Handwritten staff recommendations dot the shelves of Canada\u2019s oldest specialist sci-fi and fantasy bookstore. Since 1972, it\u2019s been a pilgrimage every lover of speculative fiction needs to make.<\/p>\n

The Scribe (375 Danforth Ave.)<\/p>\n

In the market for a first edition, antique volume or collectible print? This treasure trove boasts 10,000 rare or vintage books and prints and a great selection of occult and esoteric literature.<\/p>\n

Hopeless Romantic Bookshop (1080 Queen St. W.)<\/p>\n

Fall head over heels \u2014 and leave no trope unturned \u2014 for this female-owned celebration of all things happily ever after.<\/p>\n

Mabel\u2019s Fables (540 Mount Pleasant Rd.)<\/p>\n

After nearly 40 years delighting generations of young readers in the same location, last year this venerable children\u2019s bookstore opened at a new location just 442 steps down the road.<\/p>\n

\"BMV<\/p>\n

BMV on Bloor Street West, with its four floors of books, is one of Toronto\u2019s favourite indie bookstores.<\/p>\n

Sophie Bouquillon\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

3. BMV Books (471 Bloor St. W.)<\/p>\n

Patrick Hempelmann describes his customers at BMV as a \u201ccommunity of hunters.\u201d Their quarry? Every single day, more than 1,000 new items are added to the shelves at BMV on Bloor, which has been selling books, magazines and videos since 1997.<\/p>\n

\u201c(They\u2019re) people that do not just want to find that obvious bestseller,\u201d said the owner, \u201cbut people that enjoy the hunt for those hidden treasures you will not find in a generic bookstore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The flagship Bloor Street superstore occupies what was once Annex landmark Hungarian Castle restaurant and is suitably majestic in scale: 15,000 square feet over four floors \u2014 but priced along the lines of another legendary Toronto retailer, Honest Ed\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"BMV<\/p>\n

Jay Li and Vasanaa Gunabalachandran browse children\u2019s books on the second floor of BMV on Bloor Street West.<\/p>\n

Sophie Bouquillon\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always loved books and found that the bookstores in Toronto at the time were too expensive, so we wanted to create a store that was affordable and fun to browse,\u201d said Hempelmann of BMV\u2019s start as a used bookstore at 10 Edward St., cannily located next to the World\u2019s Biggest Bookstore. (Unlike its record-setting neighbour, the BMV is still there; there\u2019s also a BMV Uptown at Yonge and Eglinton and a pop-up on Queen Street West where many items are three for $10.)<\/p>\n

In time, the store\u2019s inventory has expanded to include new releases, board games, action figures and collectibles, plus vinyl LPs and singles, CDs and more.<\/p>\n

Hempelmann described the Bloor flagship as \u201cstores within a store. Each floor is different. Our basement feels like a music store, our first and second floor are a proper bookstore, and our third floor is a fully functioning comics store.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all of BMV\u2019s endless novelty, its customers form deep, long-lasting attachments. A postcard sent by a customer of 25 years, writing after a year of tumult in their own life, says visiting was the one constant, \u201cmy place of solitude for a moment\u2019s peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring pick: \u201cCrime and Punishment\u201d by Fyodor Dostoevsky. \u201cWhy? Life is too short not to read Dostoevsky,\u201d Hempelmann said. \u201cIn the current state of the world, it is hard to believe that no one can escape their own conscience, but it is a nice ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roadtrip-worthy bookstores<\/p>\n

Why not plan a road trip around a destination bookstore? Take the notion of an escapist read literally and hop on the highway for these reader-recommended spots a short trip from Toronto.<\/p>\n

Georgian Bay Books (247 King St., Midland)<\/p>\n

Celebrating a decade in business this year, this small-town charmer is one of the jewels of Midland\u2019s quaint downtown. Every month it hosts a poetry evening.<\/p>\n

Blue Heron Books (62 Brock St. W., Uxbridge)<\/p>\n

A literary beacon in Durham Region, Blue Heron is currently throwing a months-long Books Drunkard Festival. On until May 3, it\u2019s a series of big-name author events celebrating intoxicatingly good reading.<\/p>\n

Bearly Used (15 James St., Parry Sound)<\/p>\n

A cottage country institution for 27 years \u2014 if you can\u2019t find something to read from among the expansive selection of over 500,000 used titles, you\u2019re, uh, bear-ly trying.<\/p>\n

\"AnotherStory<\/p>\n

The late\u00a0Sheila Koffman first opened Another Story in a basement on the Danforth in 1987. It\u2019s now on Roncesvalles Avenue.<\/p>\n

R.J. Johnston\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

4. Another Story Bookshop (315 Roncesvalles Ave.)<\/p>\n

The first clue that Another Story is a bookstore that cares deeply about social justice? As soon as you walk in, you\u2019re standing in the politics section.<\/p>\n

When Sheila Koffman first opened the store in a basement on the Danforth in 1987, she wanted to champion books by and for diverse communities. After nearly two decades at a bigger location across from the Danforth Music Hall, the store moved to its current home in Roncesvalles. Koffman ran the store until her death in 2017, when her brother Joel and two long-time employees, Laura Ash and Eric McCall, took up the charge.<\/p>\n

\"AnotherStory<\/p>\n

Another Story is a bookstore that cares deeply about social justice.<\/p>\n

R.J. Johnston\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of books, a lot of colour, notes from 39 years of booksellers taped on the walls. We\u2019re definitely not minimalist. We have something for everyone, and we try to be a space for the community,\u201d said bookseller and events co-ordinator Saul Freedman-Lawson. \u201cYou will meet dogs and babies, people who are a lot like you and people who are nothing like you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jay Williams, a frequent customer since he moved to Toronto from the Bahamas in 2022, says Another Story is a place where he feels special, welcome \u2014 and safe. He remembers a time when he was struggling, and a sensitive recommendation by bookseller Anjula Gogia made him feel seen in a powerful way.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor someone who is Black, queer and an international student, navigating a city that could easily render me invisible, I am most visible in the bookstore,\u201d Williams said. And yet, along with the solidarity of community, he also appreciates the ways the store spurs him to personal growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what keeps me coming back \u2014 that curiosity to understand a world that is gripped with so many problems, as there is light to be found in it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnother Story gives me the space to explore and challenge my thinking, and more importantly, to learn how to be a better human in so many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams was in the audience when the store (which hosted or co-hosted 123 workshops, parties or book launches in 2025) put on its biggest event yet: a 1,700-strong launch for Arundhati Roy\u2019s memoir, \u201cMother Mary Comes to Me.\u201d In March, the store also hosted a bilingual launch for French sexual assault survivor Gisele Pelicot\u2019s book. These events are helping to keep Koffman\u2019s vision alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSheila\u2019s values around social justice, education and community work are in everything we do,\u201d Freedman-Lawson said. \u201cCustomers, authors and teachers come to us from far outside of our neighbourhood because we carry diverse and political books that are hard to find elsewhere. Our politics are what make us who we are, and our relationship to our local and global community comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring pick: \u201cSyncopation\u201d by Whitney French. \u201cIt\u2019s a gorgeous science-fiction novel in verse, bringing us postapocalyptic hope,\u201d said Freedman-Lawson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Flying<\/p>\n

Flying Books at Neverland on Queen Street West is one of Toronto\u2019s favourite indie bookstores.<\/p>\n

Richard Lautens\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

5. Flying Books at Neverland (371 Queen St. W.)<\/p>\n

When there was an explosion near Souvankham Thammavongsa\u2019s home in Queen West in March, one of the people to reach out to her was Martha Sharpe, founder of Flying Books, both a retailer and a publishing house, offering her a safe haven until the dust had settled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff are really friendly, and they remember you,\u201d Thammavongsa said. \u201cThat kind of care, where somebody randomly thinks of you and knows that detail about you, is really incredible and kind. It\u2019s not just a bookstore. They care about me as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something else that endears Flying Books to this Giller Prize-winning author and poet who lives around the corner and drops in often: It\u2019s one of the few stores in the city to display all of their books with covers facing out.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a writer, I spend so much time talking to my editors and publishers about the front cover of my books, because it\u2019s the first thing readers see. If they don\u2019t know you, that\u2019s the first impression they get,\u201d she said. \u201cI hate when I go to a bookstore and all they see is the spine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Flying<\/p>\n

Martha Sharpe is the owner of Flying Books and publisher of its imprint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Richard Lautens\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

The store has two locations; this one at Neverland is a mash-up of a cafe, wine bar and bookstore. Sharpe \u2014 who started a decade ago with a single shelf of books in a friend\u2019s vintage store because she thought downtown Toronto needed more places to buy books \u2014 has never wanted to limit Flying Books to just one thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaunching the writing school and mentorship program early on changed everything,\u201d Sharpe said. \u201cIt shifted Flying Books from just a retail bookstore into something more like a creative ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long before Sharpe began publishing titles of their own. \u201cThe whole collection is \u2018choosily chosen,\u2019 meaning we bring in books we genuinely love and want to talk about. From the beginning, intention has shaped everything we do at Flying Books.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the first location on College Street in Little Italy is cheerfully minimalist, Sharpe said that the Neverland location is designed to be cosier, \u201ca bookstore meets caf\u00e9 and wine bar, where people often linger longer than they planned to.\u201d It\u2019s also home to their Author Socials, held around the store\u2019s long bar.<\/p>\n

\"Flying<\/p>\n

Queen West\u2019s Flying Books at Neverland is a combination bookstore, wine bar and cafe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Richard Lautens\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

\u201cConversations feel very personal and unforced, and it\u2019s a chance for people to come and have a real conversation with authors,\u201d says Sharpe. \u201cLast year at an Author Social with Katherine Ashenburg, an old friend she hadn\u2019t seen in decades showed up and it was lovely to witness their reunion.\u201d The shop also hosts what she calls \u201cjam-packed\u201d and \u201clively, thoughtful, and very community-driven\u201d monthly fiction and non-fiction book clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur readers are curious, open and incredibly engaged,\u201d Sharpe said. \u201cThey trust our recommendations and often recommend books to us and come back for conversations. Plus, they\u2019re often willing to try something new since it\u2019s always suggested with care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring pick: \u201cWe sincerely recommend our very own Flying Books titles: \u2018Happy Hour\u2019 by Marlowe Granados, \u2018Good Girl\u2019 by Anna Fitzpatrick and \u2018City in Flames\u2019 by Tomas Hachard \u2014 all highly acclaimed and beloved by readers across Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto has a storied history of independent bookstores. What other metropolis could simultaneously boast both the world\u2019s oldest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-175675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}