The End of An Era: Toronto’s Dragon Lady Comics to close in early 2012

It’s not the best story to start 2012 off here on the blog, but it’s an important one:

Back in early December I paid a visit to the 609 College Street West location of Dragon Lady Comics in Toronto, where it has been located since the mid-90’s (Prior to that it was based on Queen Street West, having opened there in the spring of 1979). In the window was a very prominent “for lease” sign. My inquiry re: the fate of the store brought an uncertain response from the store employee working that Friday night. He said that rent was going up, while profits were down and the owner felt it was too much to take on, and that the store would remain open in the current location only until the building’s owner could find a new tenant and when that happens a decision would be made whether or not to relocate or close up permanently.

Just before Christmas, I ran into a long time Dragon Lady employee who told me that a decision had been made — that original owner and store founder John Biernat would not be relocating the business but closing up the shop permanently. A tentative closing date of late January was mentioned. This has subsequently been confirmed by store manager Joe Kilmartin on Facebook as February 1st, although pull file customers will be able to get the product they ordered on February 5th.

Dragon Lady Comics & Paper Nostalgia, opened in 1979 - closing in 2012

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8 thoughts on “The End of An Era: Toronto’s Dragon Lady Comics to close in early 2012”

  1. […] First things first. Kevin Boyd reports at the Shuster Awards blog that venerable Toronto retailer Dragon Lady Comics is scheduled to close at the end of January. Founded by John Biernat in 1979, Dragon Lady Comics and Paper Nostalgia has long been a fixture in […]

  6. It’s time to declare total war on the condos and the people who live in them; they’re the ones responsible for this mess. If this keeps up, downtown Toronto will just be as boring and shitty as suburban Toronto, and therefore unlivable-what is it going to take to stop this bullshit from happening constantly?

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