Nestled in the middle of Toronto’s Church Wellesley Village is a piece of history — Glad Day Bookshop, the oldest surviving queer bookstore in the world. But now the neighbourhood fixture is making a major change, moving from its home in the Village to a new Queen West storefront.
In 2024, Glad Day posted a call to action, asking for support to save the bookstore from eviction and sharing that the shop had been going into debt for two years and often short on rent. The subsequent fundraising campaign helped the business stay afloat for the time being, raising $200,000 of the $300,000 goal — set with the intention of “avoid[ing] shutting down and giv[ing them] one more year to find creative ways of surviving.”
The bookstore has done just that. “This funding gave us time to find this practical solution that reduces our facility costs by 95% while we continue to explore long-term spaces and creative strategies,” an Instagram post sharing the news read.
The practical solution is a short-term location on Lisgar Street, a brand new space that will feature a small bookstore, cafe counter, event space, communal lounge and park out front. While the facility costs will intentionally be very low for this space, revenue may be low as well — the current Glad Day Bookshop not only operates as a bookstore, but as a cafe by day and bar by night, running drag brunches, queer social events and more in the space. Without the ability to replicate the entire current business model, most crucially, alcoholic drinks, revenue likely won’t reflect current targets.
In order to make the transition to the new space, Glad Day is fundraising again, this time with a goal of $150,000. The target includes $30,000 to pay authors and artists for event programming, $25,000 to design and outfit the new space, $25,000 for six months of operating costs, $25,000 for moving and storage and $30,000 to revitalize the books and art selection.
Crucially, the target also includes $15,000 to help Glad Day continue on Church Street for a final two months — specifically for the month of Pride.
Originally launched in 1970 by gay activist Jearld Moldenhauer to help build the city’s gay rights movements, Glad Day Bookshop grew from selling books out of a backpack to one of the largest queer bookstores in the world. The shop moved from place to place throughout the city over the years, settling at Yonge and Wellesley in 1981 before eventually moving to its current home at 499 Church St.
Glad Day noted that ideally, this short-term space won’t be forever. “We are working with the City of Toronto on finding a sustainable ‘forever home’ in the Village area in the future,” the team wrote.
It looks like there’s some work going on behind the scenes to make this happen — Chris Moise, the city councillor for Toronto Centre, wrote about the move on Instagram, stating: “I have been working behind the scenes with City Staff and a group of community leaders to secure a new community space in The Village and look forward to welcoming Glad Day back shortly. Stay tuned for updates this summer.”
