Final chapter for Toronto’s World’s Biggest Bookstore

Toronto’s World’s Biggest Bookstore was never really the world’s biggest, though at one time it might have boasted the largest number of individual titles. The bookstore met its match last November as the building was demolished and the site cleared for a new development.

The bookstore was launched on Edward Street between Bay and Yonge Streets in 1980, following the conversion of the existing 10-pin Olympia Bowling Alley. Boasting that the store contained 17 miles of shelves and a million books, co-founders Jack and Carl Cole hustled titles like showmen. Books were sold at bargain prices—even by the pound—earning the store a loyal clientele. Bookstore operations were eventually assumed by Indigo, although the Cole family retained ownership of the property.  However, the World’s Biggest Bookstore sold its last book on March 30, 2014, the victim of skyrocketing downtown land values and a consumer shift to online retailers.

Toronto’s Teperman demolition company was awarded the abatement and demolition contract by general contractor SKYGriD Construction for project owner Lifetime Developments, which had recently purchased the site.

"Planning the project, you could really see how the building was developed from a bowling alley," says Sean Teperman, CEO of Teperman.

"There were probably eight levels on only two storeys. It was mostly slab on grade. There was only a small basement containing a utility room and a washroom that was sealed off long ago, because it was too difficult for bookstore staff to police it."

Teperman assessed the project as a "textbook" demolition job that went off according to plan over a few short weeks spanning last October and November.

A contents auction had pretty much stripped the interior of the building by the time demolition crews arrived to prepare the site. The contractor first removed vinyl floor tiles containing some asbestos and then disconnected utilities.

Covered walkways were installed around the building, protecting passersby on Edward Street and traffic was controlled on an access lane passing between other buildings to the north.

"It was a basic brick masonry building with steel joists, and a metal pan floor with a concrete topping," says Teperman.

Initial work on the project was limited to hours when streets and sidewalks were uncongested. Crews brought two excavators to the site, a CAT and a John Deere equipped with La Bounty Shears.

"We started gnawing out the first strip along Edward Street, peeling back the front of the building like an orange," says Teperman. "The excavators took turns grabbing and cutting. My father always told me to look out for potential problems on a job site. Even something as minor as a curb or a strip of grass in the wrong place can set you back. This project flowed nicely. By the first weekend we were a good 70 per cent complete."

Teperman says crews were able to recycle about 98 per cent of the building, including the concrete, which was sent to a crushing mill. The only debris that could not be recycled came from the flat roof, which included an inch of insulation.

The project attracted plenty of spectators, including a senior citizen who witnessed the entire project.

"She would arrive in the morning in her wheelchair and only left when the crew left each evening," says Teperman.

While he’s developed a keen eye for interesting salvage, Teperman says very little caught his attention on the well picked-over site.

"I only salvaged one thing," he says. "A bottle of hand sanitizer, which I’m using in my truck."