This Ain’t the Rosedale Library addresses closure rumours

Toronto’s literary set assumed the worst on Saturday when a bailiff’s notice appeared in the window of This Ain’t the Rosedale Library, the Kensington Market (by way of Church Street) indie book institution, informing the business that it has until Thursday to come up with $40,000. Owners Charlie and Jessie Huisken addressed the speculation about their closing on their blog this morning, explaining, “Our situation, which could be told as a long story about the plight of bookstores in Toronto and in many North American cities, is really quite a simple one.”

Keeping up with rent became tricky during the recession, but the father-and-son duo were paying it back—“albeit very gradually”—by holding frequent events and implementing cost-cutting measures. They thought these efforts were pacifying their landlord.

Quite suddenly this changed. Our landlord became impatient with the rate at which we were able to pay her and made demands for large repayments, without providing a precise accounting of what was owing.

After troubled negotiations, the Huiskens showed up to a locked store this past weekend. TATRL, which opened in 1979 and was once called “Canada’s best independent bookstore” by the Guardian, has a fundraiser in the works and is accepting donations via PayPal.

• This Ain’t the Rosedale owners explain store closure [Quill and Quire]