[URBAN NOTE] "Glad Day Bookshop eyes new space in Toronto’s village"

[rfmcdonald]

Daily Xtra's Jeremy Willard reports on Glad Day's planned move to Church Street.

[Glad Day's owners have looked at a variety of locations, but one option stands out: a rental spot on Church Street (they can’t reveal the precise location until the deal is finalized) which, according to Erickson, seems the most feasible choice.

It’s wheelchair accessible (the lack of accessibility of the current location has been a sticking point with the owners since they first acquired the business), larger than the current location, and has an outdoor patio. Tentatively, the plan is to make it a bookstore and coffee shop in the day and bar and event space in the evening.

Any move will be an expensive prospect, but to nab this particular location they need to raise a lot of cash and fast. “We have kind of a perfect space available to us on Church Street,” he says. “But it has a timeframe where we need to get the money together and close the deal, so we’re working toward that.”

Fundraising has already begun in earnest. Glad Day launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign on Thursday, June 9, 2016. “We’re hoping to crowdfund $50,000, we’ll probably borrow $120,000, and then we’ll raise $50,000 from the current owners and some new owners,” Erickson says. “But the more we can raise from the crowdfunding, the less we have to borrow.” Glad Day is also looking for “angel investors” (people willing to lend money at low or no interest rates).