World’s Biggest Bookstore has been sold to the developer behind the Four Seasons Hotel

First it was Sam the Record Man. Then Honest Eds. Now, yet another iconic local retailer is packing it in. Come February, the World’s Biggest Bookstore will be ceding its prime site near Yonge-Dundas Square to a property developer. Indigo Books and Music, which owns the 64,000-square-foot store, says it’s closing the store because the rent, as expected, was rising from the $1.5 million a year the company had been paying. The company purchasing the not-quite-accurately-named store (New York has a Barnes and Noble nearly twice the size) is Lifetime Developments, a residential and commercial developer responsible for the Liberty Market Lofts, WaterParkCity and the Four Seasons. Vice-president Brian Brown said the firm doesn’t “have any finalized plans or intention” for the site—but we’re willing to bet another bargain bookstore is not one of the options. [Toronto Star]