[BRIEF NOTE] Glad Day Gone
Jan. 26th, 2005 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldFrom The Globe and Mail:
I'm not particularly surprised by this. Canada's independent bookstores have been doing rather poorly of late, thanks to the consolidation of publishers and booksellers. Speciality bookstores like Glad Day can claim a certain loyalty on the part of their clientele; I know that I've demonstrated loyalty, towards Glad Day and towards Bakka Phoenix, an independent science-fiction bookstore located on the ground floor of 598 Yonge Street just below Glad Day.
Taking Customs Canada to court on multiple occasions is expensive for an independent bookstore, sadly. In October and November, they had reduced their floor space to a single floor at their 598 Yonge Street location, diminishing their stock accordingly. News of their impending closure really doesn't surprise me.
I suppose that I'll have to go to This Ain't the Rosedale Library over on Church for now on. In the meantime, I'll have to remember how once upon a time Glad Day was just around the corner and down one block.
After 30 years in and out of court and more than $1-million spent on legal fees, lost revenue and seized inventory, Toronto's Glad Day Bookshops Inc. is surrendering its role as champion of gay and lesbian rights in Canada.
The store's most recent battle, a four-year court case that challenged the latitude of the Ontario Film Review Board to censor films, has cost more than $100,000.
Despite winning an appeal that led to a proposal to replace the Theatres Act, employees at the small shop near Yonge and Wellesley Streets say they are exhausted and disappointed they can't continue to fight.
I'm not particularly surprised by this. Canada's independent bookstores have been doing rather poorly of late, thanks to the consolidation of publishers and booksellers. Speciality bookstores like Glad Day can claim a certain loyalty on the part of their clientele; I know that I've demonstrated loyalty, towards Glad Day and towards Bakka Phoenix, an independent science-fiction bookstore located on the ground floor of 598 Yonge Street just below Glad Day.
Taking Customs Canada to court on multiple occasions is expensive for an independent bookstore, sadly. In October and November, they had reduced their floor space to a single floor at their 598 Yonge Street location, diminishing their stock accordingly. News of their impending closure really doesn't surprise me.
I suppose that I'll have to go to This Ain't the Rosedale Library over on Church for now on. In the meantime, I'll have to remember how once upon a time Glad Day was just around the corner and down one block.
