[URBAN NOTE] "Glad Day Bookstore needs to make a move"

[rfmcdonald]

NOW Toronto's Susan G. Cole looks at the rationale for Glad Day's move.

Business experts will tell you that it’s a bad idea to let people know your enterprise is in financial trouble. Suppliers tend to flee, and customers have a habit of staying away.

But Michael Erickson, a member of the group operating the store, isn’t fazed. He says it’s making its pitch from a position of strength.

“Our book sales have increased 30 per cent over the past four years,” he says on the phone from the shop’s location on Yonge. “And in that period alone, we’ve hosted over 700 author appearances.”

So the problem isn’t the queer community’s lack of interest in books – or even competition from the dreaded Amazon. It’s that the sale of books alone isn’t profitable enough. Heather Reisman knows that; look what she’s selling at Indigo.

That’s why Glad Day is planning to move to a new, bigger location – to facilitate those author events and to make room to sell other consumables in a café. The idea is to create a multi-purpose venue, bookstore and café by day, event space by night.

IndieGogo has more on Glad Day's plans.