Silver Snail has been a haven for comic book lovers in Toronto for decades, and the store for all things comics, action figures, manga, role playing games and trading cards will soon be returning to where it all began: Queen West.
The store that has sat just north of Yonge and Dundas at 329 Yonge Street (above Five Guys) for the past nine years will be moving to Trinity Bellwoods, a bit west of where their original location at Queen and Peter opened in 1976.
"We've been wanting to return to Queen for years, it's been one of our long-term goals," Brian Hamelin, who owns the store with Mark Gingras, tells blogTO. "People that have been with us for a long time, that's where they remember us."
The newest location at 809 Queen Street West will be on street level, making it much more accessible than the current downtown spot that can only be entered up a flight of stairs.
"A lot of our customers weren't able to visit us there for that reason," Hamelin says. "We wanted to change that and also have something that has more of a community feel."
Hamelin and Gingras have also gotten Yannie Lo, a local Toronto artist, to design and paint a mural to cover the entire storefront.
The sad news is there will no longer be an in-store cafe, and though there are plenty of options in the new neighbourhood, if you want some of the old location's Black Canary brew, it'll be about a 30-minute streetcar ride up the street.
Although he wasn't able to confirm an exact opening date, Hamelin says it'll be any day now. All the merchandise at the old Yonge Street location has been on sale for the last several weeks, so make sure to order something for curbside pickup while you await the announcement.
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