After avoiding eviction for a year, the world’s oldest queer bookstore is leaving Toronto’s Village and heading to the West Queen West area…
Glad Day Bookshop’s story isn’t coming to a conclusion quite yet.
The world’s oldest queer bookstore announced on Instagram that it will be leaving Toronto’s Church-Wellesley Village and moving to a City of Toronto owned property at 32 Lisgar St. in the West Queen West area. The new “low-cost” temporary space will feature a small bookstore, cafe counter, communal lounge and an event area. Glad Day describes the new location as a “stable home base,” as it works with City of Toronto staff to find a suitable “forever home.” The store estimates it’ll occupy the location for at least a year.
While its new location is brand new and fully accessible, it is a blank canvas meaning it will require a lot of work to make it feel like a homey and safe community space. Along with announcing the move, Glad Day is also starting a new fundraising campaign with a goal of $150,000. “We will need furniture, bookshelves, books and merchandise,” their Instagram post reads.
According to its website, the breakdown of the fundraising goal includes:
- $5,000 – Donation processing fee
- $15,000 – Help operating the Church St. location a bit longer
- $20,000 – Moving, storage, administration costs
- $25,000 – Funds to subsidize six months of operating costs at 32 Lisgar St.
- $25,000 – Funds to design and outfit the new space
- $30,000 – Funds to revitalize books and art
- $30,000 – Funds to pay authors, performers, for event programming, etc.
The announcement comes almost a year after the bookshop announced it was facing immediate eviction. This threat led to a fundraising campaign that rallied the community and raised almost $200,000, allowing it to stay open for one more year. The bookstore had accumulated years of debt and noted COVID-19 and inflation as challenges.
Glad Day’s history dates back to the 1970s when it was operated out of the backpack by activist Jearld Moldenhauer, who distributed whatever queer content he could get his hands on. From there it moved around several times setting up shop at 65 Kendal Ave. (1970-1971), 4 Kensington Ave. (1972-1973), 139 Seaton Street (1973-1974), 4 Collier Street (1974-1982), 648A Yonge Street (1982-1985) and 598A Yonge Street (1985-2016) and its current location at 499 Church Street, which could potentially close by the end of June.
The bookstore has been an integral part in Toronto’s queer history. It’s been a safe haven, a place to learn about politics and social issues facing the community and was a leading voice against censorship attempts of LGBTQ+ content by the government.
While its absence in The Village will be felt, the bookshop hopes to return to the area as a non-profit in the future.
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