Does anyone else remember Unknown Worlds comic shop in Toronto? 2 2

[jjonahjameson11]

Yes, the second Snail store was on Yonge, on the West side of the street.

Jimmy is still running Kaos Comics, where he sells comics and sells/rents DVDs 

[Ares]

21 minutes ago, jjonahjameson11 said:

Yes, the second Snail store was on Yonge, on the West side of the street.

Jimmy is still running Kaos Comics, where he sells comics and sells/rents DVDs 

Was is at lower level of a retail location?

You had to walk down some steps to get to store?

[jjonahjameson11]

1 minute ago, Ares said:

Was is at lower level of a retail location?

You had to walk down some steps to get to store?

The Snail's second location?  Actually, the opposite...it was on the second level of a retail location, and you had to take some steps up (8-10).

[Ares]

10 minutes ago, jjonahjameson11 said:

The Snail's second location?  Actually, the opposite...it was on the second level of a retail location, and you had to take some steps up (8-10).

I probably got it mixed up then,

[jjonahjameson11]

4 minutes ago, Ares said:

I probably got it mixed up then,

yes, its been a while.

Dragon Lady also opened a second location very briefly, in Mirvish Village, literally across the street from the Beguiling.

[Phicks]

10 hours ago, Ares said:

Was is at lower level of a retail location?

You had to walk down some steps to get to store?

You may be thinking of the original location for Now and Then Books in Kitchener which was a walk down.

[thehumantorch]

14 hours ago, Larryw7 said:

Does anyone here remember stories of a comic shop in Canada where the owner of a store offered happy ending massages from women in his stock room? I know it sounds ridiculous, but a couple of collectors mentioned it to me, and I even vaguely remember a thread here that mentioned it. If not, sorry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gotta love great marketing 

[VintageComics]

1 hour ago, Phicks said:

You may be thinking of the original location for Now and Then Books in Kitchener which was a walk down.

Now apparently THAT was a store. Some of the treasures that came through that place were apparently legendary but it was before my time in Kitchener.

Andy the former manager of Now And Then now runs Carry On Comics in Waterloo.

[VintageComics]

12 hours ago, Ares said:

Was is at lower level of a retail location?

You had to walk down some steps to get to store?

The Shooting Star comics on Yonge and Finch was downstairs. Maybe that's what you were thinking of?

[Question13]

Unknown Worlds was around from the early 80's and they were located at 725 Danforth Ave just east of Pape Ave which if I recall correctly was their 2nd location. They specialized in Science Fiction Novels and Comics. The place was owned by 2 guys named Mike & Vince. They ended up moving further down Danforth Avenue close to Broadview Avenue but didn't last long in that location and closed in 1994. I use to buy my comics from them until Legends Comics opened in 1987 on Linsmore Avenue which was right across the street from Greenwood subway station. Legends changed it's name to Shining Knight comics and then to Comics and More and was in that area for 27 years until the owner Rob Charpentier passed away in October 2014.

[Ares]

13 hours ago, VintageComics said:

The Shooting Star comics on Yonge and Finch was downstairs. Maybe that's what you were thinking of?

Probably

I remember it was On Yonge before I discovered Paradise comics

[Ares]

12 hours ago, Question13 said:

Unknown Worlds was around from the early 80's and they were located at 725 Danforth Ave just east of Pape Ave which if I recall correctly was their 2nd location. They specialized in Science Fiction Novels and Comics. The place was owned by 2 guys named Mike & Vince. They ended up moving further down Danforth Avenue close to Broadview Avenue but didn't last long in that location and closed in 1994. I use to buy my comics from them until Legends Comics opened in 1987 on Linsmore Avenue which was right across the street from Greenwood subway station. Legends changed it's name to Shining Knight comics and then to Comics and More and was in that area for 27 years until the owner Rob Charpentier passed away in October 2014.

Thats  the store I was thinking of

[Yosemite]

Just saw this.

Unknown Worlds was my LCS (local comic store for my brother and cousins as well), lots of great memories. Mike and Vince were awesome.

Here are a couple of store bags (with their address) that some of you will remember that I held onto for posterity . Wish I held onto their sale ads, they liked using the term bargoons alot, good times ... miss this place

Edited November 28, 2020 by Yosemite

[thehumantorch]

On 4/14/2020 at 3:33 AM, Larryw7 said:

Does anyone here remember stories of a comic shop in Canada where the owner of a store offered happy ending massages from women in his stock room? I know it sounds ridiculous, but a couple of collectors mentioned it to me, and I even vaguely remember a thread here that mentioned it. If not, sorry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's a store I want to buy comics from.

[Jospeh Typhon Kirlian]

I frequented Unknown Worlds here in Toronto when it was over past Pape eastwards, on the south side of Danforth Avenue in the late 1980s, then after UW moved to five or six blocks west to its second location near Chester Station on Line 2 (TTC subway line, formerly known as Bloor-Danforth). I believe business was so poor by the end that the shuttering happened within four or five years, probably before I finished high school at Danforth Tech near Greenwood- I was a close friend and custom of Rob Charpentier from 1992 until 1999 when he ran the Shining Knight with his brother Chris- around 1996 or 1997. I graduated from the three-year Classical Animation Degree program at Sheridan College's Trafalgar Campus in June of 1999.

I'll be going to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival at the Metro Reference Library tomorrow morning, so I'm getting my art supplies ready and what I'll be bringing to draw with, along with my laptop and a couple of SSDs in USB enclosures.

-Kirlian, Toronto, Ontario.

Edited May 10 by Jospeh Typhon Kirlian

[Hepcat]

On 4/13/2020 at 2:19 PM, Guardian Comics said:

Mine mostly too but mixed in a little bit of Queens Comics in the beaches area and being from Scarborough...Fantasm Comics at Markham Rd. and Eglinton was where I picked up my first real back issues...X-Men #27 and #29.

Queen's Comics & Collectibles was where I bought some of my earliest Justice League comics including #3. 

Comics Unlimited on Keewatin Avenue just east of Yonge, Dragon Lady and Silver Snail were the other comic shops I patronized in the late 1970's. Queen's Comics and Comics Unlimited also had cards. Bakka Books was in the Yellow Pages under comics but by 1979 they stocked just about zilch comics. Certainly their Yonge Street location had none.

Trying to find any of the titles/issues I most wanted though was like pulling teeth. As a result I thought Toronto was just a backwater for comics and I needed to go to Detroit, Buffalo or New York to find the comics I saw listed in Overstreet.

 

Edited May 10 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

On 4/14/2020 at 12:10 AM, VintageComics said:

Does anyone remember a comic book store on Keewatin between Yonge and Mt. Pleasant just north of Eglinton?

I know there was one there that I visited in the mid 1980's but can't remember the name of it.

Comics Unlimited. It moved to the southwest corner of Eglinton Avenue and Bathurst and became Comics Unlimited/Sports Connection circa 1989 during the sports card boom. The store was eventually taken over by the owner's son Daniel. Around 1999 it moved to some God forsaken location near Dufferin Street and Highway 7 up in Vaughan as Sports Connection. It's now strictly mail order out of Niagara Falls.

On 4/14/2020 at 6:50 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

Actually, has anyone ever bought comics from Yesterday's Heroes?  I found that store to be utterly, hopelessly cluttered and disorganized. 

Snail, Beguiling, and Hairy T are still around.  Not sure about Grey Region.

Yesterday's Heroes was indeed dark, dingy and disorganized. Both the first Grey Region location downstairs on Queen Street West and the second location on the west side of Yonge Street near Wellesley are gone now.

Edited May 10 by Hepcat

[vheflin]

On 4/14/2020 at 5:33 AM, Larryw7 said:

Does anyone here remember stories of a comic shop in Canada where the owner of a store offered happy ending massages from women in his stock room? I know it sounds ridiculous, but a couple of collectors mentioned it to me, and I even vaguely remember a thread here that mentioned it. If not, sorry!

 

[Hepcat]

On 4/14/2020 at 5:33 AM, Larryw7 said:

Does anyone here remember stories of a comic shop in Canada where the owner of a store offered happy ending massages from women in his stock room? I know it sounds ridiculous, but a couple of collectors mentioned it to me, and I even vaguely remember a thread here that mentioned it. 

Sounds like he'd get customers both coming and going. I wish somebody had told me about that store at the time. What years would that have been? Do the collectors who've mentioned it remember whether the women were hot?

Edited May 10 by Hepcat

[jjonahjameson11]

On 5/10/2024 at 2:56 PM, Hepcat said:

Queen's Comics & Collectibles was where I bought some of my earliest Justice League comics including #3. 

Comics Unlimited on Keewatin Avenue just east of Yonge, Dragon Lady and Silver Snail were the other comic shops I patronized in the late 1970's. Queen's Comics and Comics Unlimited also had cards. Bakka Books was in the Yellow Pages under comics but by 1979 they stocked just about zilch comics. Certainly their Yonge Street location had none.

Trying to find any of the titles/issues I most wanted though was like pulling teeth. As a result I thought Toronto was just a backwater for comics and I needed to go to Detroit, Buffalo or New York to find the comics I saw listed in Overstreet.

 

Bakka Books was initially owned by Ron van Leeuwen (sp?) and was a bookstore mainly focused on Sci-Fi.  Ron sold Bakka sometime in the 70's, when he opened the original Silver Snail location on Queen St.  His wall books on the 1st day of opening the Snail consisted of Conan #1...lots of copies of Conan #1 

Later, he opened his second Snail location in Ottawa, and then a second store in Toronto (the aforementioned Yonge St location, just North of Eglinton)

Ron sold the store at least a decade ago to pursue his retirement/hobbies.  He was an outdoor enthusiast who enjoyed canoeing, camping and 'roughing it' far away from the city.

I'll never forget that massive collection he picked up circa 2001 from Buffalo - multiple copies each of ultra-high grade/uncirculated ASM 129, Hulk 181, GS X-Men 1, X-Men 94, tons of late 60's/early 70's Richie Rich, the complete run of GK Scooby Doo, more Marvel Giant Size books and DC 100 pagers than you can count, etc. 

I picked up several key books, but what I should have done was take out a Line of Credit.