Book City (The Beach)

Book City is the Toronto-only indie mini-chain that still earns a neighbourhood slot: four shops after the old Annex flagship closed in 2014. This list uses the Beach room at 1950 Queen Street East — the location that runs the official webstore — two blocks east of Woodbine on the north side of Queen. Official bookcity.ca/contact-hours: Monday–Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m., phone (416) 698-1444, beach@bookcity.ca. Sisters: 348 Danforth (416-469-9997), 1430 Yonge at St. Clair (416-926-0749), and 2354 Bloor West (416-961-4496), each with its own slightly different evening window. First-timers: this is a general new-book shop, not a specialty room. Use it when you are already in the Beach and want a real indie instead of a mall chain; call another location if you need same-day pickup elsewhere. Online inventory is Beach stock.