A Short History of The Beguiling Bookstore

When, in 1987, Steve Solomos and Sean Scoffield opened The Beguiling, in a single storey storefront, at 185 Harbord Street, Toronto, I did not beat a path to their door.  But, I am confident enough that my first visit was soon after that.

185 Harbord Street as it is today.

(The lefthand side of the single storey building)

I seem to remember that it was Mark Askwith, then manager of the Silver Snail Comic Book Emporium, who told me about the new store in town.  If it was not him, then it was someone from the Snail because that was where I got my weekly "fix" of comic books from.

Memory is a peculiar thing but I do remember that it was a dull, overcast and rainy day, when I paid my first visit to The Beguiling.  The store was dingy, small and quite crowded with customers and unlike the comic book stores that I was used to, seemingly devoid of back-issue bins.

My visit didn't last very long.  I remember that I was unimpressed with the abrasive attitude of one of the owners and that their stock was not what I was interested in at the time.  I have always regretted that, as I was leaving, I saw a magazine sized collection of the 'Pussycat" strips by Bill Ward, perched in the end of their glass counter, for $10 and that I allowed my bias toward the abrasive owner to prevent me from snapping it up.

(For some reason this does not look

like the one in my memory

but it is the only collection that I could find)

I am fairly sure that I only visited the store once more and by then it had relocated, in 1992, to it's present location on Markham Street.

601 Markham Street, Toronto

The Beguiling's new home.

That visit was probably sometime in 1993 and once again, I ran into both owners.  Sean Scoffield was the quieter and more personable face of the business, easy to like and get along with but Steve Solomos was the opposite.  Steve always looked, to me, like a 1950's rocker, with his passion for pointy shoes and leather biker jackets. (Memory plays tricks with the mind and this is ONLY my impression of the man.)  I left, completely unimpressed and didn't return again until 1998, when I discovered that Peter Birkemoe and his partner  had bought the business.

Peter was and remains a very easy guy to talk with.  He was exactly what the store needed to attract me as a customer and I have been a regular since rediscovering the store.  I can only agree, with all the good people out there, who heap praise on the amazing diversity to be found within The Beguiling's walls.  It is an amazing store and quite possibly unique.