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wyliepoon
Senior Member
Sad news indeed. Whenever I'm in the Mirvish Village area I always stop by Ballenford for an enjoyable read to kill time. I've bought books from the store, including many books I used when I was at Ryerson. I've even applied for a job there, but was rejected. I will definitely go check out the liquidation sale and grab as many rare architecture books as I can.
I wonder if there is any way for Ballenford to continue. It has, as the article stated, developed a "niche" for itself in Toronto's high-end architecture book market, but it doesn't have to stay as a bookstore forever. It already has developed a relationship with Spacing and the Toronto Society of Architects through selling TTC buttons and architecture maps. That relationship could have been expanded to allow Ballenford to become a store selling Toronto architectural and urbanism products (like Detroit's Pure Detroit store and the Chicago Architectural Foundation (CAF) store). Like CAF, Ballenford could even expand into the architectural tourism business, offering tours of both old and new architecture in the city.
It's a sad day for architecture in Toronto... a city with an architectural renaissance like what we have now needs a bookstore like Ballenford.
I wonder if there is any way for Ballenford to continue. It has, as the article stated, developed a "niche" for itself in Toronto's high-end architecture book market, but it doesn't have to stay as a bookstore forever. It already has developed a relationship with Spacing and the Toronto Society of Architects through selling TTC buttons and architecture maps. That relationship could have been expanded to allow Ballenford to become a store selling Toronto architectural and urbanism products (like Detroit's Pure Detroit store and the Chicago Architectural Foundation (CAF) store). Like CAF, Ballenford could even expand into the architectural tourism business, offering tours of both old and new architecture in the city.
It's a sad day for architecture in Toronto... a city with an architectural renaissance like what we have now needs a bookstore like Ballenford.
RedRocket191
Senior Member
I had to buy a textbook at Ballenford back in January, and I thought "this is a place that I might enjoy getting lost in."
Not only will Toronto have lost an excellent bookstore, students in the urban fields (planning, design, architecture) will have lost an excellent resource.
Not only will Toronto have lost an excellent bookstore, students in the urban fields (planning, design, architecture) will have lost an excellent resource.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
It would've made a perfect mate for Dominion Modern, had they both found a space to share.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
The place is pretty packed today with bargain hunters (myself included).
The closing is truly sad, sad news.
AoD
The closing is truly sad, sad news.
AoD
wyliepoon
Senior Member
I was the second-to-last customer at Ballenford on Saturday. I had budgeted $200 for books, but only ended up spending $90 on two books.
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
Ballenford's was a gem but it had certain flaws that doomed it from the start. They had short hours and weren't open on Sundays, so half the time I attempted to go there they were closed. Secondly, as wylie mentions, they were expensive. Budgeting a lot of money for books only to be turned away by their prices was also something I experienced. Eventually, I would end up going there with the hopes of buying a book (the times they were open) and walk out with maybe a copy of Canadian Architect or a handful of Spacing subway buttons. When BMV opened their flagship down the street that was open until midnight and had a half-priced architecture section that wasn't just coffee table books of medieval castles, the fix was in.
syn
Senior Member
It's unfortunate the store is closing. I always enjoyed going in and browsing, but the prices usually weren't worth it. I could see how their hours have been a problem too.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Hipster:
Quite true, I had my sights on a book on Amsterdam's Eastern Docklands but at $100+ a pop it's just a little too much.
The BMV architecture section is large - but the books tend to be rather dated. PoMo is so 80s...
It's too bad - I would imagine Ballenford could have done brisk business if they had taken up the 2nd hand architecture book business as well.
AoD
Quite true, I had my sights on a book on Amsterdam's Eastern Docklands but at $100+ a pop it's just a little too much.
The BMV architecture section is large - but the books tend to be rather dated. PoMo is so 80s...
It's too bad - I would imagine Ballenford could have done brisk business if they had taken up the 2nd hand architecture book business as well.
AoD
JasonParis
Moderator
Book store facing final chapter
April 02, 2008
Christopher Hume
Urban Affairs Columnist
Toronto may be a city that reads books, but not one that goes to the store to buy them.
After 29 years on Markham St., Ballenford Books, the city's best architectural bookstore, will close its doors.
"I was delusional," says owner Susan Delean, "because I hear from people I like. But it's got to the point where it's become a personal thing. I'm putting my family in a situation where they're in financial jeopardy."
According to Delean, a store like hers can no longer survive the onslaught of the Amazon.coms of the world. For most buyers, their appeal lies in the lower price of books sold online, about 30 to 40 per cent lower than bookstore prices.
The fact that Amazon's lineup doesn't come close to Delean's only makes things worse, she says.
Then there's the sudden rise in the dollar, a crisis for the Canadian publishing industry. Add to that the slim margins available to booksellers that aren't chains, even at the best of times.
"I've been in boiling water for so long I didn't realize the extent to which I've been boiled," says Delean, speaking from a point somewhere between anger, sadness, shock and relief. "We cannot compete, so it gets to be very difficult to rationalize your existence. It's grown clearer and clearer. Booksellers are operating on less than nothing."
Just last week, Canada's oldest bookstore, the Book Room in Halifax, shut down after 169 years. Owner Charles Burchell told reporters that he knew it was time to move on when a book ordered by a tenant who lives above the shop was delivered to him by mistake.
"The book was on our shelf," Burchell told the CBC, "so they could have come down in two minutes and picked the book up, but they chose to order by computer and wait five [to] seven days for it to come in."
How's that for convenience?
"I am very sad about this," says Toronto architect and Ballenford regular David Dennis. "It is a treasure. Now I'm stuck buying stuff from the Internet sight unseen. And the Internet just doesn't have the depth, neither do general interest bookstores. I guess it's the way of the world, and the way of business."
As Dennis also points out, Ballenford was a cultural centre as much as a bookstore. The store featured a continuing program of architectural exhibitions and regularly hosted book launches.
"None of that earnest work was amounting to anything," Delean says. "But I do feel we got support from the architectural community." In fact, a group of architects bought the shop in 1993 after it went bankrupt for the first time. Delean bought it from them in `94.
"The irony is that business was growing," she says. "But in reality it's a zero-margin business. The publishers set the store price, but Amazon sets the selling price, and it's usually lower than ours. So we find ourselves in a bind because of cash flow; and no one's giving an inch."
Michael McClelland, architect and Ballenford fan, suggests that the store move to the Distillery District and "rebrand itself, perhaps as a bookstore/café/gallery."
"It's a wild card," he admits, but worth pursuing.
Indeed, the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen combines all three elements.
Delean and her husband, Larry, both studied architecture. He works at the University of Toronto School of Architecture, Landscape and Design, where he runs the materials workshop. The couple has two children, age 4 and 8.
The irony is that architecture has never been more on people's minds, especially here in Toronto. Toronto has been enlivened by some of the leading global practitioners, including Frank Gehry (Art Gallery of Ontario), Will Alsop (Ontario College of Art and Design), Daniel Libeskind (Royal Ontario Museum) and Norman Foster (U of T's Leslie Dan Pharmacy Building). If that's not enough, in Mississauga – Mississauga, no less! – developers hold international design competitions for condo towers.
In other words, architecture is bigger than ever.
But in the case of Ballenford Books, it seems this new interest in buildings doesn't extend to what's inside them.
Christopher Hume can be reached by email at chume@thestar.ca.
April 02, 2008
Christopher Hume
Urban Affairs Columnist
Toronto may be a city that reads books, but not one that goes to the store to buy them.
After 29 years on Markham St., Ballenford Books, the city's best architectural bookstore, will close its doors.
"I was delusional," says owner Susan Delean, "because I hear from people I like. But it's got to the point where it's become a personal thing. I'm putting my family in a situation where they're in financial jeopardy."
According to Delean, a store like hers can no longer survive the onslaught of the Amazon.coms of the world. For most buyers, their appeal lies in the lower price of books sold online, about 30 to 40 per cent lower than bookstore prices.
The fact that Amazon's lineup doesn't come close to Delean's only makes things worse, she says.
Then there's the sudden rise in the dollar, a crisis for the Canadian publishing industry. Add to that the slim margins available to booksellers that aren't chains, even at the best of times.
"I've been in boiling water for so long I didn't realize the extent to which I've been boiled," says Delean, speaking from a point somewhere between anger, sadness, shock and relief. "We cannot compete, so it gets to be very difficult to rationalize your existence. It's grown clearer and clearer. Booksellers are operating on less than nothing."
Just last week, Canada's oldest bookstore, the Book Room in Halifax, shut down after 169 years. Owner Charles Burchell told reporters that he knew it was time to move on when a book ordered by a tenant who lives above the shop was delivered to him by mistake.
"The book was on our shelf," Burchell told the CBC, "so they could have come down in two minutes and picked the book up, but they chose to order by computer and wait five [to] seven days for it to come in."
How's that for convenience?
"I am very sad about this," says Toronto architect and Ballenford regular David Dennis. "It is a treasure. Now I'm stuck buying stuff from the Internet sight unseen. And the Internet just doesn't have the depth, neither do general interest bookstores. I guess it's the way of the world, and the way of business."
As Dennis also points out, Ballenford was a cultural centre as much as a bookstore. The store featured a continuing program of architectural exhibitions and regularly hosted book launches.
"None of that earnest work was amounting to anything," Delean says. "But I do feel we got support from the architectural community." In fact, a group of architects bought the shop in 1993 after it went bankrupt for the first time. Delean bought it from them in `94.
"The irony is that business was growing," she says. "But in reality it's a zero-margin business. The publishers set the store price, but Amazon sets the selling price, and it's usually lower than ours. So we find ourselves in a bind because of cash flow; and no one's giving an inch."
Michael McClelland, architect and Ballenford fan, suggests that the store move to the Distillery District and "rebrand itself, perhaps as a bookstore/café/gallery."
"It's a wild card," he admits, but worth pursuing.
Indeed, the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen combines all three elements.
Delean and her husband, Larry, both studied architecture. He works at the University of Toronto School of Architecture, Landscape and Design, where he runs the materials workshop. The couple has two children, age 4 and 8.
The irony is that architecture has never been more on people's minds, especially here in Toronto. Toronto has been enlivened by some of the leading global practitioners, including Frank Gehry (Art Gallery of Ontario), Will Alsop (Ontario College of Art and Design), Daniel Libeskind (Royal Ontario Museum) and Norman Foster (U of T's Leslie Dan Pharmacy Building). If that's not enough, in Mississauga – Mississauga, no less! – developers hold international design competitions for condo towers.
In other words, architecture is bigger than ever.
But in the case of Ballenford Books, it seems this new interest in buildings doesn't extend to what's inside them.
Christopher Hume can be reached by email at chume@thestar.ca.