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I worked with a lot of people who'd been at the store for 20-25 years, people who remembered when Coles owned the store, then Chapters, and finally Indigo. For them, the glory days were long ago, hence the title of my video, The Decline and Fall of the World's Biggest Bookstore.
This, then, is my tribute to the WBB. The video begins a year ago - when we first got inklings that the store's lease might not be renewed, showing normal levels of stock and our variety of sections - and continuing through to the store's close and beyond. Note, some sections got better coverage than others as I hadn't planned on making this video when I did the 'before' shots. Also below is a slide show of some of the SFF events and endcaps the store hosted, for those not lucky enough to visit the store and see them in person.
Oh, and my apologies for the last few photos in the video which were, unfortunately, overexposed.
RIP WBB, you will be missed.
The Decline and Fall of the World's Biggest Bookstore from Jessica Strider on Vimeo.
The song playing is "The Ghosts of Bate Island", Written & Performed by: Derek R. Audette.
5 comments:
wow! that was a huge huge store!
It was a huge store. And I was allowed to request books for us to carry so that our selection would be the best. I took advantage of that and brought in a bunch of history books and science fiction & fantasy.
It is heartbreaking seeing shelves empty that way as a bookstore closes. I wrote about this when Borders closed. I know people have their opinions about chain bookstores, but nobody really wins when a brick and mortar store closes. I went in there several times to buy books as it closed (which I also did while it was open) and hated to see the shelves get more and more empty.
I am truly sorry for your loss. I worked in a bookstore in my early 20's and it was the best job I ever had.
Thank you very much for posting this. I must have spent hours wandering the science fiction department looking for books. It was a sad day when WBB closed, I doubt we will ever see its like again.
This was always one of my favorite stops when I visited Toronto. I would spend a couple of hours looking for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Mysteries.
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