The World’s Biggest Bookstore could soon be downtown’s biggest vacant retail space

The lease for Toronto’s World’s Biggest Bookstore is set to expire in December 2013, and the prospect of an available 64,000-square-foot property in the Yonge and Dundas shopping mecca has developers and big-box retailers salivating. If WBB owner Indigo can’t negotiate a new lease (and it looks unlikely, since it’s seeking a significant reduction in the annual rent of roughly $1.5 million), there are plenty of would-be buyers—one condo developer has reportedly already offered $38 million for the space. However, the building’s owners, descendants of book purveyor Jack Cole, would prefer to find another retail tenant. That shouldn’t be a problem, given the location and the site’s insanely low operating costs (rent plus taxes works out to about $33 a square foot, compared to the typical $150-$200 for a property in that area). As the big-box stores plot their strategies, we’ll take a moment to mourn the demise of another iconic Toronto bookstore. [Toronto Star]