Independent Bookstores in Toronto: Shops by Specialty
Three Toronto bookshops that stay independent and stay busy: Ben McNally Books downtown, TYPE in three neighbourhoods and Bakka-Phoenix for science fiction.
A good independent bookshop does something a search box cannot: it hands you a book you did not know you wanted. Toronto has plenty of them, and the best ones each have a point of view.
This guide is sorted by specialty, from a downtown shop with a monthly book club to a science fiction specialist near the university. Each one is checked against its own website and an independent source, and every link goes to the shop so you can confirm events before you go. For wider culture picks, start at the culture desk. If you collect old and rare books, see our guide to used bookstores in Toronto.
Ben McNally Books describes itself as a family-run independent bookstore in the heart of Toronto. It opened in the late spring of 2007 at 366 Bay Street, and it is now at 108 Queen Street East, right at the corner of Jarvis.
The shop runs a Book-a-Month program that is completely customizable and tailor-made to you or the recipient. That makes it a smart gift for the person who has everything but a reading list. It also hosts a book club on the last Sunday of every month. In October 2026 the club met on Sunday, October 25, and an October Social with the theme Characters was set for Friday, October 30.
The shop was in the news on October 8, 2026, when the Canadian Press reported on Toronto bookstores after Anne Carson’s Nobel Prize win. Our pick if you like your bookshop with a community around it.
Queen Street East in Toronto, April 2022.booledozer / Wikimedia Commons / CC0
Where do you go for a neighbourhood bookshop with range?
TYPE Books says it has been proudly independent since 2006. It has three shops: Queen West at 883 Queen Street West, the Junction at 2887 Dundas Street West, and Forest Hill at 427 Spadina Road. The Canadian Press called it a Toronto independent bookstore in its October 2026 coverage.
Browse by section and you will see the range: Art & Design, Food & Drink, Poetry, and Zines & Special Publications are all shelves on its website. The shop also offers subscriptions, including a Plotless Fiction Subscription and a TYPE in Translation Subscription. Those two are a nice way to get out of a reading rut.
Our pick if you want a bookshop that suits a Saturday walk. The Junction shop pairs well with an afternoon in the Junction.
Buildings on Dundas Street West in the Junction, August 2017.Arild Vågen / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
Bakka Books first opened its doors in 1972 on Toronto’s Queen West strip, stocking genre fiction, comics and more. The name Bakka was taken from Frank Herbert’s Dune. Today it is at 84 Harbord Street, and it is devoted to science fiction and fantasy. The shop describes itself as Canada’s oldest science fiction and fantasy bookstore.
It hosts author appearances, readings, panels and offsite events. The shop’s events page was promoting the launch of Margo MacDonald’s A Curious Presence, with a reading and Q&A. Check the shop’s site for the date. It was also among the bookstores listed at Word on the Street Toronto’s 2026 festival, held on September 26 and 27 at David Pecaut Square.
If you are on Harbord Street, it is worth a detour.
Harbord Street in Toronto.Victoria Heath vheath / Wikimedia Commons / CC0
How would you plan a bookshop crawl?
Pick a Saturday and treat it like a tasting menu. Start with the shop closest to home, buy one book you are curious about, and carry the rest of the day in your bag. Stop for coffee, read a chapter, then head to the next shop and ask what to read next. By the third stop you will have a small pile and a new sense of what the city’s booksellers love. If the weather turns, a bookshop is one of the best places to wait it out, so a crawl suits a grey day as well as a sunny one. Pack a tote bag, wear comfortable shoes and leave room in your schedule for the unplanned stop.
A crawl also works as a gift. Give a friend a day, a shortlist and a budget, and let them pick. It is a better present than a gift card because it comes with a story.
How do you get the most out of an independent bookshop?
Go with a question. A good bookseller loves being asked for something specific, whether that is a mystery set in a place you are about to visit or a gift for a reader who has read everything. Ask for the title on the table that nobody has picked up yet.
Look for the events page. Events, from launches to book clubs, are how you meet the community around a shop. Check the shop’s own page for dates, since they change.
Think of it as a conversation rather than a transaction. In our view, the best bookshop visits are the ones where you leave with a book and a recommendation for the next one. Keep a note on your phone of what a bookseller suggests, and bring it back when you have finished.
And try something outside your usual section. Pick a poetry slim volume, a translated novel or a space opera and see what happens. The shops above each offer a different way in, so the real question is which one you will visit first.
Send this to the friend you would bring to the bookshop. They will thank you for it, and so will the booksellers.
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