Via Torontoist comes this sad news: Toronto’s last French-language book shop is going out of business. From the article:
“For 10 years, Maison de la Presse Internationale has been offering patrons a wide selection of both international magazines and French-language titles from its home at 99 Yorkville Avenue. After long-established French-language bookstore Librairie Champlain closed in 2009, Maison de la Presse became the only place in the city readers could go to browse an extensive collection of French-language titles…”
But, as with the closing of another local niche bookstore—The Cookbook Store, which closed in March—don’t be so quick to blame Amazon for this one. The Cookbook Store blamed their closure extreme weather, road construction and the sale of their building to condo developers. Maison de la Presse Internationale cites the departure of the Film Festival and the closure of the Four Seasons hotel as factors for the decreased walk-in traffic, and adds that the burgeoning condo development has transformed the neighbourhood too much.
Far from blaming the online vendors, the store owner will be sending her customers to them. With the closure of this store, there will be nowhere else for them to go.
