The Flying Dragon Bookshop bites the dust
It’s no secret that the last few years haven’t been kind to the local ink-and-paper publishing industry. We’ve said goodbye to a number of beloved bookstores, including Pages, This Ain’t The Rosedale Library and David Mirvish Books. Now, less than a week after being named Specialty Bookseller of the Year by the Canadian Booksellers Association, The Flying Dragon Bookshop has announced that it’s closing its doors, too.
Quoth the Toronto Star:
Customers loved the whimsical atmosphere of the store, designed to evoke the world of fairy tales, with rich purples and gold and an evergreen tree growing into the ceiling. But [co-owner] McCreath said sales took a sharp turn in January. After considering options like bringing in e-books and e-readers, they decided to close instead… “We felt completely turned upside down,” Nina McCreath said of the decision she and business partner Cathy Francis made to close. “We thought that we would be here well into our retirement.”
With Amazon.com’s e-book sales skyrocketing—for the first time ever, electronic titles are outselling their print cousins—so, really, it comes as no surprise that Hogtown’s independent print retailers are giving up the ghost. Even our Ontarian librarians are hurting, their ranks slashed almost a quarter since 2001 (although, by some strange stroke of dark magic, Toronto’s librarian corps remains exceptionally strong).
Maybe we’re just feeling a touch more nostalgic than usual—with the end of days drawing nigh and all—but, like other Toronto bibliophiles, we hope Google doesn’t replace all our ink-and-paper repositories too soon.
• Bookstore announces shutdown days after winning award [The Star]
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It’s no secret that the last few years haven’t been kind to the local ink-and-paper publishing industry. We’ve said goodbye to a number of beloved bookstores, including Pages, This Ain’t The Rosedale Library and David Mirvish Books. Now, less than a week after being named Specialty Bookseller of the Year by the Canadian Booksellers Association, The Flying Dragon Bookshop has announced that it’s closing its doors, too.
Quoth the Toronto Star:
Customers loved the whimsical atmosphere of the store, designed to evoke the world of fairy tales, with rich purples and gold and an evergreen tree growing into the ceiling. But [co-owner] McCreath said sales took a sharp turn in January. After considering options like bringing in e-books and e-readers, they decided to close instead… “We felt completely turned upside down,” Nina McCreath said of the decision she and business partner Cathy Francis made to close. “We thought that we would be here well into our retirement.”
With Amazon.com’s e-book sales skyrocketing—for the first time ever, electronic titles are outselling their print cousins—so, really, it comes as no surprise that Hogtown’s independent print retailers are giving up the ghost. Even our Ontarian librarians are hurting, their ranks slashed almost a quarter since 2001 (although, by some strange stroke of dark magic, Toronto’s librarian corps remains exceptionally strong).
Maybe we’re just feeling a touch more nostalgic than usual—with the end of days drawing nigh and all—but, like other Toronto bibliophiles, we hope Google doesn’t replace all our ink-and-paper repositories too soon.
• Bookstore announces shutdown days after winning award [The Star]){kind=link}