If you find the ownership of books to be a necessary precondition of, or alternative to, reading them, below you’ll find a few places to build your own sizeable library. If we’re missing one of your favourites, let us know and we’ll add them to the list!

New Books

Book City, locations at 348 Danforth Avenue, 1950 Queen St E, 2354 Bloor Street W, and 1430 Yonge Street
Book City has a fine selection of past and present literature, a decent selection of criticism, and many magazines and journals. They offer free in-store pickup for online orders as well as very reasonable shipping rates within the city of Toronto.

Chapters/Indigo, located at Bay & Bloor in the Manulife Centre
The Chapters/Indigo chain has a number of locations around the city, but this location is the nearest to campus. More and more of their floorspace has been devoted to home goods instead of books in recent years, but they still have a decent in-store selection, and you can order many books online for either in-store pickup or direct shipping.

A Different Booklist, located at 779 Bathurst Street
This shop specializes in books concerned with contemporary issues of culture, race, and gender, as well as books written by BIPOC authors.

Glad Day Bookshop, located at 499 Church Street
Opened in 1970, this shop holds a claim as the oldest queer-focused bookstore in the world. The shop carries a wide selection of titles for and from the LBGTQ+ community, including fiction and theory, and also regularly hosts events and readings.

TYPE Books, locations at 883 Queen Street W, 2887 Dundas Street W, and 427 Spadina Road
A newer player on the scene (by which we mean it opened in 2006), TYPE has rapidly emerged as a favourite for its curated selection and engaged staff. In addition to books, they sell a variety of unique gifts and stationery and host a range of events.

U of T Bookstore, located at the Koffler Student Services Centre, 214 College Street
The U of T Bookstore is stocked in all subjects, including English texts. It also has a book buy-back program for current textbooks. You can special-order books here too, but the process can be excruciatingly slow. This store can be a frustrating place to browse in, but you’ll have to deal with it at some point, so it’s best to get used to it quickly!

Used Books

AbeBooks, online
Serving as a worldwide digital marketplace for used booksellers, AbeBooks is the go-to option for sourcing rare, unique, or out-of-print books. If you haven’t had any luck finding a specific version of a book, try searching for it here — but note that prices may not be as low as you would expect, especially once you take shipping into account.

Atticus Books, online
Atticus has an excellent collection of secondhand “scholarly and antiquarian” books (including pristine review copies of recent critical works) and an outstanding array of medieval texts. This bookstore is currently an online-only business, though you can also pick up your orders at their downtown Toronto location if desired.

Balfour Books, located at 468 College Street
Though they don’t necessarily have the widest selection, this shop provides lots of choice in the way of art and photography books, children’s literature, fiction, history, and fair amounts of miscellanies.

BMV, locations at 471 Bloor Street W, 10 Edward Street, and 2289 Yonge Street
BMV’s main location, just west from campus, is a great place to browse or even just to kill some time. Their wares include remaindered and discounted titles along with many used books, plus records, CDs, and DVDs/Blu-Rays (“BMV” stands for “books, music, videos,” after all). If you’re looking to clear out some space, they’ll also buy some of these same items from you — typically for only $1-3 per title, and they won’t take everything, but hey, it’s an option!

BooksEnds South, located at the Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street
Run by the Toronto Public Library, this shop offers donated items and those withdrawn from libraries’ collections, with most items available for just $1 and all proceeds going to support the TPL’s programs and services.

Doug Miller Books, located at 650 Bloor Street W
This shop features an eclectic and ranging collection (and, recently, a large “Lego diorama”). Miller also regularly posts new arrivals on the store’s website, so you can always skim through and see if something catches your eye.

The Monkey’s Paw, located at 1067 Bloor Street W
Perhaps Toronto’s most idiosyncratic secondhand bookstore, The Monkey’s Paw specializes in “old and unusual books and salvage culture,” typically 20^th-century books on niche or obscure topics — take a look at their “remote window display” for a sample of their stock. It’s well worth visiting even just out of curiosity, or to try the “Biblio-Mat,” a coin-operated vending machine that dispenses random old books.

Seekers Books, located at 509 Bloor Street W
Open until midnight for your browsing convenience, this incense-infused bookstore has impressive holdings on Eastern and Western religion, the occult, and science, as well as more standard fare.

Campus Book Sales

Some of the libraries and colleges on campus host annual sales for donated books and other materials, offering great deals and surprising selection. Everyone has his or her favourite, but try as many as you can, even just to see the spectacle. The best strategy (for the most acquisitive bargain-hunters) is to return more than once, as new books are brought out continuously. Another tip: bring a box or bag, as they are often not provided.

Sept 22 to 26, 2022: Victoria College Book Sale, located Old Vic, 91 Charles Street W
Low prices, fine paperback and rare book selections, but opening night (when the best deals are to be had) can be absolute chaos. You can also consider volunteering to help with the sale, as any student who volunteers 3 hours of time will receive a $25.00 voucher for the sale.

Sept 28 to Oct 1, 2022: St. Michael’s College Book Sale, located at Father Madden Hall, 100 St. Joseph Street
Typically a bit of a smaller sale, but no less worthwhile. Opening night has a $5 entrance fee for non-students, but every other day has free admission to everyone.

October 20 to 24, 2022: Trinity College Book Sale, located at Seeley Hall (Second Floor), Trinity College, 6 Hoskin Avenue
The Trinity College sale regularly offers over 50,000 books spread across “70 academic and popular categories.” Great selection and you can even find some rare items and editions, but be prepared to face the crowd — especially since this sale has been cancelled due to COVID-19 for the last couple years. Admission is $5 for opening day, but free for the rest of the sale.

October 27 to 30, 2022: University College Book Sale
Tentatively scheduled to return this year, the UC sale offers a somewhat smaller selection than some of the others, but the deals are still great. Keep an eye on their website for more details closer to the event!