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Used book mogul houses newest store in used castle

Toronto used book mogul Patrick Hempelmann doesn’t do anything halfway — for his third book emporium, he’s installing 200,000 used books in a restored castle, according to a Toronto Star story.

The Hungarian Castle (located on Bloor, two blocks west of Spadina), formerly filled with the fragrant combo of standing water, rotting pianos, and dead raccoons, will be home to Hempelmann’s third BMV (which stands for “Books, Music, Videos”), where 15,000 square feet will feature “good books, remainders, review copies, used and hurt books” as far as the eye can see.

Hempelmann is rarin’ to go, citing facts like the booming used book business in the U.S. and the popularity of used book warehouse chains like the Southwestern U.S.’s Half Price Books. This acquisition has been half-a-dozen years coming – former owner Annie Racz, “the Hungarian-born widow [who] was often seen in the neighbourhood carrying a large purse stuffed with rent money collected from the tenants of her many properties in the Annex,” was somewhat of an eccentric, which meant that Hempelmann was only able to get his hands on the property after she died.

But it was all worth it, apparently: the store should be up and running as early as September.

Related links:
Read the Toronto Star story here

By

June 13th, 2006

12:00 am

Category: Bookselling, Industry news

Tagged with: Toronto Star