Tell Me: Now & Then.

[thebitterguy]

Hey, KW people, did Now & Then really close its doors? And is that really a Dave Sim quote? I see no mention of voids.

Comments

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Yep. It closed at the end of September. The space is already occupied by another store.

[thebitterguy]

Well, that's a good sign. Unless it's a dollar store.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Yes, the person who purchased the business from Harry's sister after Harry died was not quite as good a businessman as the business required.

I'm concerned that as Amazon, Chapters, and other online retailers expand their offerings of trade-paperbacks, and as the big publishers move more solidly to the tpb format, FLCS locations will really take it in the neck.

Waterloo still has one open store, with a fairly loyal following, and I believe that Kitchener does as well. Neither is really a big money-making business, and one serious financial or health crisis would probably kill either.

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

Hah, I've been to that store! I didn't know it was that legendary. I also worked for a penny-ante cable TV show that interviewed Dave Sim there one time. He was kind of a dick.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Historically, I wouldn't be surprised if Now and Then was one of the two most notable stores in Ontario, if not one of the most notable handful in Canada (the other probably being the Silver Snail).

That said, it really did become a shadow of its former self in the years since the original owner's death. The guy who took over just didn't have deep enough pockets or strong enough business sense to keep the store open (this doesn't mean he was a ninny; I don't think he was; but it does mean that the store certainly required more innovation and savvy ownership in order to survive Harry Kramer's death).

Now and Then was an icon of my youth. My grandmother knew Harry's mother, and the store was there through most of growing up. I was sad when Harry's mother died, and even more when his mother died. Now, the store's final closing feels rather like the blowing away of dried up flowers placed on Harry's plot.

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

This is sad news. I used to stop in to N&T all during medical residency when KW was only an hour away and I would do a blitz of some of the downtown book and game stores. I would mostly get their RPG stuff, having little interest in the funnybooks. Since moving to Hamilton I still would stop in about once or twice a year.

There seems to be fewer and fewer places to get RPGs and stuff in KW now. The place next door is but a shadow of its former self, and Gemini Jet-Pack is also closed (or was supposed to last April). Some of the used bookstores would carry the odd stack or so or RPG stuff, but that was about it.

::B::

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

J&J carries a very small amount of roleplaying stuff, and will order it for you if you ask. (And by small, I mean smaller than the Phoenix place in Kitchener,which collection is as you say, a shadow of its former self.) So, in reality, there really is no place in KW anymore to really buy roleplaying stuff (in the sense of having a store that's got an owner that really has any clue or intention to support it as a hobby).

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

What's J&J? I'm not familiar with this store.

::B::

[thebitterguy]

Apparently, he's gotten worse.