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Toronto: hobby-specific locations worth a visit
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Started by SquareChaos,

34 posts in this topic

SquareChaos

SquareChaos

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Posted

I'll be making a short trip to the Toronto area sometime soon - whenever I travel I try to seek out a few places of interest to comics / sequential art / original art whenever I can find the extra time.

I've never been to Toronto, so I thought it may be a good idea to post here in the hopes that someone may have information or suggestions. I will of course work my way through whatever Google has to offer, but my relatively extensive travel experience has informed me that destinations of interest for our particular hobby can oftentimes be difficult to track down ... even in the largest of cities.

Any help (or heckling) is much appreciated!

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drewincanada

drewincanada

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Here's a short list that I'm sure others can add to. There isn't much (any?) of an OA scene at the retail level in Toronto, and even the back issue/collectible comics retail scene isn't what it used to be in the age of internet buying/selling. Still, there are some great shops run by passionate people. 

The Beguiling: my top pick for sequential art fans. They moved recently and I haven't been to the new location, but they were always the most esoteric store and had the best depth and breadth of sequential art-related inventory. http://www.beguilingbooksandart.com

Silver Snail: is this Toronto's oldest comic shop? I believe so. Along with Dragon Lady (which closed about 5 years ago), it's been around since the 1970s but has moved locations at least a few times. Now on Yonge St in the heart of the downtown core at Yonge/Dundas. I recall their back issue inventory as being pretty run of the mill and overpriced, and they seem to focus more on figurines, collectibles and HC and trade paperback books these days. Still worth a visit. http://silversnail.com

Paradise Comics: another shop that has been around for decades. The owner, Peter Dixon, used to run a wonderful annual convention, but was eventually bought out by Wizard World who abandoned Toronto after a few years. Definitely worth a visit. Accessible by subway. On Yonge St., but further north than the Snail. https://paradisecomics.com

Excalibur: a small west end family-run shop. They've moved much of their business online but still have a bricks and mortar location. Apparently their hours are sporadic, so call first. Accessible by subway (Royal York stop). http://excaliburcomicstoronto.com

West End Comics: I've never been here, but I've heard good things about this family-run shop. http://www.westendcomics.ca

And you might want to visit BMV Books. It's a used book store but they used to have a decent selection of back issue comics. Their inventory is always changing and in the past there were sometimes some cool finds, especially if you got there soon after a new batch of books arrived. I haven't checked out their comics in 4 or 5 years, though, so I don't know if the situation is still the same. http://www.bmvbooks.com

Edited by drewincanada
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pemart1966

pemart1966

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I highly recommend BMV - especially the location on Bloor.  The 3rd floor is entirely TPBs, hard covers, old comics (when I say old, there are some silver age books there) magazines etc etc.

The TPBs and hardcovers are sold at much less than cover - there's always something interesting there.  

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MagnusX

MagnusX

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18 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

I highly recommend BMV - especially the location on Bloor.  The 3rd floor is entirely TPBs, hard covers, old comics (when I say old, there are some silver age books there) magazines etc etc.

The TPBs and hardcovers are sold at much less than cover - there's always something interesting there.

+ 1 on this...

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SquareChaos

SquareChaos

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4 hours ago, Mr. Machismo said:

What days will you be there?

We'll arrive the 1st week of September - I was previously unaware that we'd overlap with Fan Expo ( thanks for mentioning that @Panelfan1 ), we literally just settled on making this trip within the last few days, so the timing wasn't planned. I'm uncertain I'll be able to allocate a day to the con day since we're only staying for a short time.

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SquareChaos

SquareChaos

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5 minutes ago, JadeGiant said:

Fan Expo weekend?

Looks that way, I was somehow completely unaware of it when we were planning and booking this trip lol

 

Those of you that have been or are in the know, what is the general opinion of Fan Expo? It has simply never been on my radar as we rarely visit Canada.

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Ryanfromottawa

Ryanfromottawa

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2 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

Looks that way, I was somehow completely unaware of it when we were planning and booking this trip lol

 

Those of you that have been or are in the know, what is the general opinion of Fan Expo? It has simply never been on my radar as we rarely visit Canada.

It's definitely worth a stop . Probably the largest convention in canada

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Will_K

Will_K

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9 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

Those of you that have been or are in the know, what is the general opinion of Fan Expo?

I haven't been to it about 5 years.  Back then it was really, really packed.  Really,  I mean you may not even get in.  At one point the fire marshall wasn't letting people in. 

A good 1/3 of it is anime related, it seems to be very popular in the Toronto area. 

Great artist alley (pros and non-pros).  I think Mssrs Singh and Matzkin have been known to setup there.

The convention center (or centre) is on a main street, so you have the option of public transportation.

A lot of dealers will accept US$.  So if you don't think you have enough CAN$, try to spend the US$ first.

New comics are still printed with different US$ and CAN$ prices (CAN$ is higher) but  a lot of dealers will go by the US$ price.

And yeah... those Canadians are friendly.

 

 

 

Edited by Will_K
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MagnusX

MagnusX

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A little bit "Off Topic" but...

I went last Friday to 1,000,000 comix  to buy some supplies
and discover that the store was close and the building heading for demolition for another condo building...

Did anyone know if they move or if they close permanently?

???

Edited by MagnusX
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irchooker

irchooker

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39 minutes ago, MagnusX said:

A little bit "Off Topic" but...

I went last Friday to 1,000,000 comix  to buy some supplies
and discover that the store was close and the building heading for demolition for another condo building...

Did anyone know if they move or if they close permanently?

???

Word is they are closed.  They had found a new location at St. Clair & Yonge, but that fell through after they announced it, and a number of their subs publicly stated they weren't going to follow them five stops North on the subway line.  It's been 4 months-ish since closing, and with these setbacks there was some disagreement between the owners as to how to proceed.  They gave up their FanExpo tables, so it's likely closed.  But there is always a chance they pop up again in some manner, perhaps convention only?  Or one of the brothers opens again in a different location?

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MagnusX

MagnusX

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3 hours ago, irchooker said:

Word is they are closed.  They had found a new location at St. Clair & Yonge, but that fell through after they announced it, and a number of their subs publicly stated they weren't going to follow them five stops North on the subway line.  It's been 4 months-ish since closing, and with these setbacks there was some disagreement between the owners as to how to proceed.  They gave up their FanExpo tables, so it's likely closed.  But there is always a chance they pop up again in some manner, perhaps convention only?  Or one of the brothers opens again in a different location?

Good Luck;
I Cannot image any of the  2 older brothers doing a real job...

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staffman

staffman

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I'll be at the Fan Expo helping out in Artist Alley with Dave Johnson, Cary Nord, Mark Irwin, etc in area P211 if anyone wants to drop by and say hey.  Always enjoy meeting fellow collectors in person.  Just ask for Chris. I will be up this Wednesday so I will definitely check out BMV and the Silver Snail, so thanks for the info on places to check out.

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