[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop up for sale"

[rfmcdonald]

Oh no! The Glad Day Bookshop, Toronto's only gay bookstore--one of the only GLBT-themed bookstores still extant in North America--is up for sale. Niamh Scallan at the Toronto Star reports.

Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop Inc., believed to be the oldest gay and lesbian book store in the world and the first of its kind in Canada, is up for sale.

On Monday afternoon, store owner John Scythes, who was working at the second-floor shop on Yonge St. north of Wellesley St., said he planned to reach out to friends and regular clients before considering a public sale of the iconic independent bookstore.

Scythes, who bought the store from founder Jearld Moldenhauer in 1991, began to look for potential buyers about a month ago, staff member Prodan Nedev said.

With shelves still crammed with books and walls cluttered with posters, there were few signs of distress at the shop, save for a white sheet of paper taped to the front countertop, asking anyone interested in buying the store to contact Scythes.

The store first opened in 1970 in a small apartment in the Annex and quickly became a gathering place for Toronto’s queer community. A political and cultural hub, Glad Day was a fixture in the fight for gay and lesbian rights in Canada, spending decades embroiled in costly legal battles against censorship.

Scythes refused to comment further on the private listing. But in 2010, he told Inside Toronto he was forced to dip into his own pockets to keep the shop — hard hit by a drop in sales — afloat.

I've written in the past about Glad Day, which has faced challenges in the past even as it has continued to enjoy acclaim. It's lasted longer than This Ain't the Rosedale Library, a like indie bookstore that was once located in the neighbourhood. I'm saddened to learn it isn't doing better.

(And before you ask, I was planning to visit and make a purchase Friday.)