Sad but true, my favourite comic book store in town, Elfsar, (who I first blogged about almost 2 years ago) is closing tomorrow. As you can read in the blog post, their rent got hiked over 250%, and that was that. They've got a big sale on, so if you're in town this weekend, show your support, get some cheap books, and bid your farewells.

After losing Duthie Books a few months ago, and hearing news of Sophia Books closing at the end of the month for the very same reason as Elfsar (more info on Cory Doctorow's blog), this comes as a huge blow to comic and book lovers alike. Duthie and Elfsar were my absolute favourites (and Sophia a place I'd poke around now and then because it's close to where I work), and I now find myself asking where I'm supposed to go for trusted stocks of interesting and hand curated books, comics, and graphic novels?

What better reason to give ol' SpendLocally.ca a little much-needed love than to memorialize one of my favourite local businesses. Sadly, my favourite bookstore in Vancouver, Duthie Books, has closed their final location in Kits, after 53 years in business.

From the press release posted on their website:

Everybody knows that Independent bookstores have been under pressure from the 'big box' operations for many years now and it is clear that it is not going to get any better; the likes of Chapters, and Amazon are ruthless in their drive for market share and we cannot compete on price anymore. The book itself is in the throes of a technological transformation and book readers undergoing a major demographic shift.