Cool bookstores: Chapters in Runnymede

This way to a gorgeous Toronto vintage theatre 

I enjoy every step of doing research for a walking guide (no pun intended): strolling, admiring urban sights, coffee drinking, notes taking, treats tasting... Most of all, I love exploring, on the lookout for hidden gems. Well, I found a good one in Runnymede! Behind the closed doors of Chapters along Bloor Street West.

(Update as of March 25, 2014: "Chapters is supposed to vacate the building by March 31. Shoppers Drug Mart hopes to open in the location in the summer and has publicly committed to retaining all of the existing historical features, interior and exterior, including the stage and interior walls." excerpt from an article published in The Star in February 2014.)

A Chapters is a Chapters, right? That’s what I thought the first time I explored the Runnymede area to find the best circuit for the Runnymede Casual Stroll I would include in Toronto Urban Strolls 2. I did not bother entering the store, figuring I already knew what it was all about.

Later, as I was writing the guide, I could not remember if the bookstore on Bloor West was a Chapters or an Indigo. Googling it, I learned from a Wiki blurb that the building currently hosting Chapters was initially the Runnymede Theatre, a playhouse built in 1927 as an “atmospheric theatre” (with blue sky, clouds and stars).

In a Heritage Toronto article, I read that the playhouse was turned into a movie theatre in the 30’s, a bingo hall in the 70’s, back to a movie theatre in the 80’s, before closing down in 1999. The locals obviously appealed to save the vintage theatre and resented the chain moving into the historic building.

Little did they know that Chapters would do such a good job at restoring it to its 1920’s glory! The old theatre is a book lovers‘ dream, now that it stages books instead of vaudevilles. 

The relatively plain facade at 2225 Bloor West doesn’t do justice to what awaits inside. Expect a domed ceiling (which used to be over the box office), impressive entablature, multiple adorned pilasters, shell-shape niches and all kinds of other architectural detail. They’ve even kept an old projector and a few of the movie theatre seats for good measure in the mezzanine.

Before or after a visit to this store, I recommend you stop for a smooth cappuccino and a bite at the slick Baka Gallery Café at Bloor West and Beresford (one block west of Chapters, on the north side). Ask for a leaf design!