QUILLBLOG

Creemore’s Curiosity House Bookstore & Gallery to close

Another indie bookseller in Ontario is set to close.

Last week, the owners of Curiosity House Bookstore & Gallery announced they will shutter the shop in Creemore, Ontario, at the end of the month. In a blog post, Catherine Randall, Miriam Vince, Rowlie Fleming, and Tom Vandewater stated the closure is in part due to their inability to secure new investors to take over for Randall and Vince, who are leaving to pursue “new directions.” It’s also because of the loss of their leased retail space, which was sold by the building’s landlord last November. (Similar real-estate issues have led to the demise of Titles in Peterborough, Ontario, and Nicholas Hoare locations in Ottawa and Montreal.)

Curiosity House opened in 1995 and has twice changed ownership. In August, the CBC Books community named it a top 10 favourite Canadian bookstore. News of the closure has “devastated” the small town, says Randall in the Barrie Advance. “And the sad thing is we’re not closing because we’re not viable, we’re closing because there needs to be a transition and there isn’t anyone to transition to,” she adds.

Curiosity House will host a farewell party on May 19.