World’s Biggest Bookstore

It is with heavy heart and sadness that WBB is closed. I always feel sad when a major bookstore is closed and that includes Chapters. But WBB is special. It is a staple in downtown. Even as part of the Indigo or Cole chain, it stands on its own as a book mecca in Toronto. Who would have predicted that Amazon would grant it unprofitable. :-(

The World’s Biggest Bookstore is about to closer, and be replaced by restaurants. It’s the end of an era — and the four stars is for what it was from start to finish.
I first came here with my grandfather when the only other bookstores were the 1000sqft Cole’s inside malls. This place had everything — not just the best sellers, but rare books that you couldn’t find anywhere (and because Amazon didn’t exist, there was just no way to grab them, aside from trolling University book stores and hoping for the best.)
It still carries more than any other place you’re likely to find in Toronto.
Though it’s not quite the Powell’s it could have been — it’s a place steeped in history, and it will be missed.

The World’s Biggest Bookstore is big, but just okay. I had to go in based solely on the name, but I didn’t spend too much time in there. I prefer the small, independent bookstores instead.

There are plenty of names I would give this place, but World’s Biggest Bookstore is, apparently not one it deserves. According to multiple sources, it’s not even close to being the largest square footage bookstore in the world anymore. If this Toronto «landmark» wanted to change names to one that is more accurate, here are some suggestions:
— World’s Biggest Soulless Chain Bookstore: When I learned that this was just part of a Canadian bookstore chain, its lack of interesting titles and focus on new releases and bargain books made sense. With the space of a former bowling alley to work with, they could have made this a book lovers paradise with rare and hard to find books. If hard to find means not worth finding (out of date NHL sticker albums?), they have it nailed. But what this store does is just expanded a basic bookstore over a city block. And the vast spaces of empty floor proves it.
— World’s Best Rack (of Magazines): Play up the sex angle, not that it’s that kind of bookstore, and maybe the place won’t seem so dusty and deserted. The magazine section is incredible. They have titles from all over the world in multiple languages and hundred of English language periodicals (and even scientific journals). I think they might have more titles on sports than most bookstores have magazines overall.
— World’s Cutest Stuffed Bunny Warehouse: The toy and novelty section is actually pretty fun. My lady is really into bunnies and it kept her entertained for a while with floppy stuffed bunnies and bunny decoys for the mantle and bunny finger puppets. So if that’s one’s thing, this place is tops.
As a bookstore, it’s kind of meh. There are definitely high points but, in general, it’s nothing to write a home (or a book) about.

Une véritable institution à Toronto. Dommage que les livres, ça né se vend presque plus à cause d’internet. Qu’importe, ici on trouvera ce qu’on né trouve pas ailleurs. Bön choix, bel espace.

Yea, it’s big… but it’s a Chapters/​Indigo outlet. I was more impressed by the BMV next door.

As someone who used to work in a bookstore, I know what a challenge it is to recommend books to customers. It is so hard to gauge someone’s taste and there are just so many options to choose from. It’s not like working in a clothing store, where you can pick a sweater off a table and know instantly if the color is going to suit the customer perfectly.
So, when I was in the Worlds Biggest Bookstore and I asked a woman who worked there about an author whose name I couldn’t remember, I expected a two-​word reply and then figured I’d be on my way to find the book amidst the many rows of fiction. Instead, she answered my question (impressively from memory) and then asked to see what books I had in my hand (I was carrying a stack of about 8 books, planning to sit and start reading each one to see which grabbed me the most).
She knew something about every single book. Not in a weird, annoying, or judgmental way. In this really cool way. Perfect sound bites that seemed catered to me and what I was looking for. Based on what I was holding, she also recommended a few books I had never even heard of and then she gave me alternatives to the ones she didn’t think I’d like. I felt like I was witnessing what Amazon does electronically. «If you like this, we think you’ll like this too…» And I also had images of myself stalking the «staff recommends» shelf, looking for her name, a la Elaine at the video store in that episode of Seinfeld.
In any case, I love her recommendation so far and I have a list of books to read, based on her other suggestions. If you are ever in Toronto and looking for a new book to love, don’t be afraid to ask someone at the Worlds Biggest Bookstore for a little help.

I came here yesterday looking for a specific magazine that I wasn’t sure would be in stock or would even be sold in stores. I thought ahead and called down to find out if they had it. The initial person on the phone listened to my inquiry, said they were pretty sure that they had it but that she would transfer me to someone in magazines to be certain. She could have easily assured me they had it and gotten me off the phone so I appreciated the transferred call.
The person I got second was very pleasant, was certain they had it but wanted to make sure they had the most recent issue in stock (and multiple copies). They put me on hold and a few seconds later came back and assured me they had it, verifying the person on the cover and the month of issue.
I came in a few hours later to find it without difficulty and ended up deciding to look for something else at the same time. I was shopping for someone who preferred large print books but since this store is so huge, and that section was likely to be small, I stopped and asked the first person I saw where to find it. The nice thing about this store is that there are always staff members milling around, putting books away, and they all seem to be fairly knowledgeable about books and genres. Not only did the associate tell me where to find the section, he personally walked me over to the section to ensure I found it as it was tucked in a corner. He explained how the small section was laid out and then left me to my devices.
I was here with a friend who was also looking for a book for someone, given only the name of an author the recipient was currently reading and not much else to go on. I suggested we ask and a few aisle down we found another store associate. I explained what we were looking for and she immediately took us over to the correct section and instead of looking for the specific author (he didn’t want to get the very book the person was reading by mistake) and going from there, she made some good suggestions of authors that were similar. She offered quite a bit of background on a few authors for comparison and then left us in the section to peruse. He ended up getting one of her recommended authors and I ended up with my magazine and a book.
Overall, I’ve not had a bad experience at this bookstore. The upstairs has tons of sale books (chick-​lit, which is my preferred reading material for my commute), just about anything you could ever want, a decent clearance section and lots of staff around. The one thing I appreciate here is that the staff are so knowledgeable and I’ve never been steered wrong. The staff at the Eaton Centre location are as well, but I think the atmosphere here makes it a bit more fun to shop in. I buy a lot of books, for myself, as gifts, and this is one of my preferred stores to shop in.

I am so bummed that this place is closing at the end of the year.
It may not actually be the biggest bookstore in the world — anyone been to the Strand in NYC? — but it is big for Toronto, and the selection is incomparable.
I find that World’s Biggest tends to be the one place that will have a book I’m looking for when no one else in the city does. And of course I could order books online, but sometimes I want them right now, not next week.
The staff are friendly, which is hard to find in other stores this size. It’s a great place to browse or to beeline to the one book you need so you can get in and out quickly.
I love it, and I’ll miss it.

Formerly an independent bookseller, but now owned by corporate giant bookstore chain Indigo Books, the World’s Biggest Bookstore still maintains it’s original feel of a traditional bookstore due to it’s layout. However, upon entering the store you notice the signage is the same as the Indigo store across the street at the Eaton Centre, which is a bummer. Knowing that Canada’s largest bookstore chain has put many independent booksellers out of business saddens me but it’s a fact and I have to live with it.
The store is next door to one of BMV Books (an independent bookseller) locations in Toronto which is great should you’re looking to compare prices or can’t find what you’re looking for at this store. Members of Indigo’s Plum Rewards and iRewards loyalty programs can use their cards at this store.
Trivia: This is the main outlet store for all Indigo stores in the GTA area to sell their remaining clearance items before they’re returned to the corporate warehouse. Should you not find a clearance item at your local store, come to this store where there is an entire section devoted to final call clearance books and homewares.

Once a tourist attraction now a kind of reminder of what bookstores used to be. Back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s a bookstore was a places to go, find a book, confirm it’s really a book, it’s really the book you want, take it to a cash, and leave. You got on with your life. You didn’t have to grieve the person behind the counter didn’t know who Gabriel Garcia Marquez is. He/​she worked in a bookstore because he/​she knew about books. Not because he/​she filled out an indigo blue golf shirt and just really really wanted a job in the low stress end of retail. If you looked like a filipina you had to be prepared you would be approached by creepy men in the cookbook section offering to buy you things if you wanted to become some grub’s mistress. In short, it was a pathetic Canadian imitation of Powell’s Books. I loved it. I loved the sci fi section. I loved the role playing book section. I could never figure out the graphic novel section. I loved forcing my cute plaid kilt wearing trophy GF to meet me in the computer book section and have her kiss me passionately in front of the (other) endomorphs. There were non scary bathrooms. No one tried to sell you on buying a chapters club card. No one knew what a yoga mat was and you certainly wouldn’t think to buy one in a bookstore. You went there to buy books or find a filipina mistress or neck with your waif model GF or urinate without feeling like you might be walking into a glory hole. You could find obscure magazines like White Dwarf, Ray Gun, Spy, or Northern Miner magazine. You never read Ray Gun, of course, You just wanted to see what you could do with Aldus PageMaker. You never went there to buy Idiot’s Guide books. That would be like admitting defeat. Kids were banished and there certainly was no place for them to play. Book people weren’t breeder types anyway. Would you lay me? And no one who ran a bookstore would run for political office. You went every Saturday to see if Patrick Tilley released a new Amtrak Wars book. There’s no way the whole series could have ended with the death of Steve Brickman. You began to notice in horror that the sci fi section started stocking less real sci fi and more novels based on TV series, movies, and computer games. It was barely tolerable when the whole novelization section was single handedly written by Alan Dean Foster. Splinter of the Minds Eye wasn’t that bad. He earned his right to pollute the sci fi section. And what the hell is this Internet crap? Pay to go online? It will never replace the BBS.
First time I stepped into a Chapters my comment was «oh wow, they’ve finally created a bookstore for people who don’t read books.» There were places to get coffee, places to sit and copy down recipes from recipe books you had no intention of buying. There were CD listening posts and software counters.
And there was no one in a dirty sleeping bag out front begging for spare change.
That’s not a book store.
World’s Biggest Bookstore had none of that and still has none of it. It still has lots of books and magazines of all kinds and newspaper from all over. It still has a guy or gal in a dirty sleeping bag begging for change.

You really can’t go wrong with this place. How can you? It’s huge. If you can’t find your book just give up and order online.
This is a great bookstore if you want to browser. There isn’t really many places where you can sit and read a little like in a Chapters. Even the floor isn’t great since they have tile everywhere. However, if you’re looking for some specific or can’t seem to make your mind, come here.

As many who reviewed before, my review is going to be biased. As I used to come down here when I was 16 and loose myself in the books and racks upon racks of magazines. I still remember spending many a Saturday morning browsing through whatever topic I found interesting, from Astrology, Calvin and Hobbes, Photoshop to convertibles, to politics & cooking this place has it all. As my topics and reading level changed, I could always depend on the WBB, it always had my back!
Now, I am not overly interested if the WBB is in fact the World’s biggest bookstore. I mean, I doubted that statement back in the 90’s, as I think it no different than what Hero Burgers is today –I doubt Batman feels the need to eat there just because of the name– and I pretty much don’t think it holds any truth now. I mean, who cares? The fact is the place is massive. I only have three concerns:
1-​) The place has been owned by Indigo for quite a few years now, so it is no longer independent and that is a shame.
2-​) I noticed many of the prices on books to be either on par or in some cases be MORE expensive –even if by a few bucks– then say, the two adjacent bookstores to the WBB. You know the ones, the two closer to Yonge. To be honest, since they are owned by Indigo, I do not feel the need to support them as much as I used to, and because of that, I do not go nearly as often as I used to either. As now I go to the bookstores in the Annex instead which for the most part are still independent.
3-​) When it comes to décor or atmosphere this place is and has always been the bargain bin cousin to No Frills. With its tired paint job, creakily floors, uneven wheelchair ramps and utterly spartan décor this place is not going to win any new customers with it’s atmosphere and it reflects, as it is generally mostly empty.
I assure you, personally, I do not care but it would take a fool to not recognize the threat of Indigo’s other bookstore locations to the WBB. With their newer décor, leather couches, incorporated cafes, pianos, seminars and in the end almost equal price, the charm of the WWB gets lost on most of the population. And now with on-​line stores like Amazon having jumped in the fray and offering cheaper prices… you tell me… In the end, who is truly left? Mostly people like us, who go there from time to time for nostalgia’s sake.
Not the best business model if you ask me. They will need to do some changes, and soon. Otherwise, aside no longer being the world’s biggest bookstore, soon enough, the WBB won’t be a bookstore at all.

Keep it in mind that the place use to be a former bowling alley! This contributes to the no frills look of the bookstore.
This place has more book titles than any other bookstore that I have been to. The staff are always friendly and attentative. They periodically ask me if they can help me find a particular title.
Once, I forgot an ID card here and they called me and left a message on my voicemail.
During another visit, I was disappointed with Indigo Books (the owner) because I did not receive a discount coupon. They offered me the discount and I am grateful to them for it.
I just wished that they would open up a coffee shop at this location. They have enough room to build one in their clearance space.

I think my review of the World’s Biggest Bookstore will be a little biased because I’ve been going here since I could first read. Things have changed over the years… including my reading level :-), Even though I’ve ordered books from
because of convenience (and sometimes price), shopped at closer Chapters bookstores because of distance, I always still come back to WBBS.
There was a nice little magazine shop called Lichman’s where I would go for UK magazines however they have since folded, but WBBS carries on stocking more magazines than I could possibly ever read (including the UK and other worldly variants and newspapers). The sheer selection alone of books of every genera (and all age groups) is reason enough to stop in. Chapters now owns the World’s Biggest Book Store and in turn their various stores have almost caught up to the enormous book/​magazine selection of WBBS, but I believe they will always prevail. There isn’t the cushy seating selection dispersed through the store, or fireplace chat of local Chapters either, but when looking for a book on a specific topic, I would start here.
Once, it was one of Toronto’s largest bowling lanes, but now is one of my guaranteed stop-​ins when looking for a book on a new topic of interest.

A broad selection in-​store and easy to use order kiosks if you are looking for something that is not in stock. The store is nothing fancy but is a nice escape from the noise and traffic of nearby Yonge Street.
Tip: Check out the clearance section on the second floor at the back for deals on unique stationary, note cards and gift items. I love a set of graph paper pattern/​line paper pattern mugs I found there as well as gorgeous boxes of Christmas cards in the spring last year for less than ½ price.

I don’t really see why people harp on the fact that the World’s Biggest Bookstore isn’t actually the world’s biggest anymore; it’s still a really massive store with tons and tons of books to browse through. It easily has more stock than any other Chapters/​Indigo store I’ve been to, hands down. And far larger. The building used to house a large bowling alley, if that gives anyone an impression of the size, and there’s two floors packed with books, magazines and graphic novels.
I love coming here, I really do. I could care less if it’s part of the Chapters chain or not because their selection of titles is the best in Toronto, in my experience. They have an excellent selection of manga and graphic novels and I’ve almost always been able to find what I was looking for. I’ve also managed to find a lot of books here that I wasn’t able to find anywhere else; they were the only place in the city that actually had the Japanese textbook I needed in stock.
I’ve also had nice experiences with the staff here; asking someone to help me find a book was always a pleasant experience as they went out of their way to try to find it for me. Cashiers have often acted enthusiastic about my book purchases, which was kind of nice to see. I have had a couple experiences where the cashiers could hardly care less about any small talk I might have tried to create but I find the nice far outweighs the bad here.
I guess my only complaint about the place is that it’s very «no frills.» The atmosphere is nothing to write home about and it looks nothing like most Chapters/​Indigo stores at all. It’s a bit dingy inside and the lighting is a little harsh. Personally, I don’t mind it so much because their selection is so great that I can put up with a bit of a worn-​down, outdated atmosphere.

Of course I had to visit a place calling itself the World’s Biggest Bookstore. However, it’s not. Apparently it was true for a short time in the 80’s. How arrogant and embarrassing of them not to change the name. I can vouch that both Powell’s and the Strand are larger, and they have character to boot (which WBB does not).
So, it’s still a huge bookstore, and you’re likely to find most of what you want here. Yet somehow, even at a megastore like this, I can’t find several titles on my list. Thus proving that they don’t have everything. And how the heck are you supposed to use their search kiosks? There is no mouse or trackball or pad, so the best you can do is type an item into the box and hit «Enter» and then stare helplessly at the screen as your title is displayed with a link for more information. Tab? Arrows? Page down? Nope nope nope. Frustrating. And where is the staff to help? I only saw one person on the floor in the entire place.
Prices seem pretty high, unless you’re in the bargain section, where I found two books for a good price – one that’s been on my list and one impulse purchase. This fall we are going to learn more about British naval history!
There was parking right in front of the store at 9:15 on a Monday. Seemed too good to be true for the area, but I don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

I’ve walked past here a few times and have meant to go in just based on the name and it didn’t happen until today. Sadly though it was all a bust.
First off finding out that it is owned by Indigo and not indipendantly owned as you might guess was a bummer. Then, going in to pick up my copy of «Born to Run» which was on hold for me just to get a jerk at the cash desk helping me didn’t improve things either. As I walk up to the cash desk I say I have a book on hold and as I am telling him the title he cuts me off and demands the name it is under. The lack of customer service continued until my transaction was complete.

WBB may no longer be the world’s «biggest» bookstore (that award goes to Barnes & Nobe in New York) but it still holds the title of largest number of books under one roof, worldwide. There is an absolute shit ton of books on its two floors, but thankfully it’s hard to get lost cause the shelves are low.
Don’t expect any fanfare from the staff though — they’re too busy emptying skids of the latest Twilight novel or whatever newest fad book series has just come out. I kinda like it that way though — it allows me to browse in absolute peace.
Which brings me to two more things worth mentioning:
(1) The magazine section is THE NUTS. They probably stock about 500 different magazines here. I swear it’s ten aisles of magazines. The music mag section is colossal and full of the best glossies that a regular Chapters doesn’t always stock — I can always find my coveted Under The Radar here and back in the day they carried Comes With A Smile, which is a super rare magazine. I could spend hours reading magazines here.
(2) The bathrooms are private and unattended. A good option if you’re downtown and need to empty your wizzer without any fuss.

Maybe 3.5 Stars…
I stopped by last Sunday and enjoyed browsing around on that very rainy day. WBBS is now owned by the Chapers/​Indigo chain, but still maintains its bright lights, loud colour, and spartan décor of old.
The World’s Biggest Bookstore really isn’t. In my humble opinion, Powell’s Books in Portland retains that title and in a much more intimate way. Yet, there is a lot of reading material to choose from here. Its all pretty much layed out in one straight shot, with few cozy nooks and crannies available. Also worth a look are the clearance and DVD areas.