A beloved independent children’s bookstore in midtown Toronto — a vanishing breed across Canada — is facing imminent closure because its proprietor says she cannot afford a 70 per cent rent increase demanded by the new owner.

Eleanor LeFave, who runs Mabel’s Fables at 662 Mount Pleasant Road, said her business was already feeling the pinch — with an estimated 20 per cent drop in sales — from the LRT construction chaos along nearby Eglinton Avenue. The province recently announced the Eglinton LRT was behind schedule and would not open until 2022.

“The bottom line is sales are down and then our building was bought by property speculators,” LeFave said.

She said negotiations continue, but that closure is “imminent” if a deal cannot be reached.

But LeFave said she’s been buoyed by the community’s response, including from kids’ authors such as Kenneth Oppel, Barbara Reid and Kevin Sylvester, who joined a Twitter campaign, as well as from Ward 12 Councillor Josh Matlow, who’s called a community meeting for March 10.

“I’m feeling encouraged because so many people are upset and they don’t want us to go,” LeFave said.

“I look on this as an opportunity to shine a light on what a lot of independent retailers are coping with. My question is: what kind of city do we want to have?” she added.

For his part, Matlow called the dispute a “David and Goliath” struggle between one of Canada’s last independent children’s bookstores and the new property owner, Maple Venture House Investments, which bought the property in October.

“Mabel’s Fables has somehow withstood the big box bookstores, has navigated its way through the arrival of online shopping,” said Matlow, adding it may now be forced out of business by the huge rent increase.

“Mabel’s Fables is an important part of the character of midtown and Mount Pleasant Village. It’s also a magical, iconic place that has hosted book launches and readings and countless children walking through rows of books and finding a love of reading,” he added.

A notice sent out announcing the upcoming meeting at Eglinton Junior Public School at 223 Eglinton Avenue East at 7 p.m. on Tuesday received more than 1,800 responses within the first 24 hours, Matlow said.

The purpose of the meeting is to share stories and “to come together to discuss realistic ways to save Mabel’s Fables,” he said.

Matlow said he was rebuffed when he sought to meet with the landlord representative Marc Pourvahidi, vice-president of business development for Sky Property Group.

The Star made numerous requests for comment from Pourvahidi and company president and CEO Salim Henareh, but did not receive a response.

LeFave said the bookstore, opened 31 years ago, has individual sections based on age, including a baby department for ages 1, 2 and 3, right up to young teens.

“We help people choose books that are very targeted and very age-appropriate. That’s very important to me that people spend their money wisely and they get books that their kids are just going to adore,” LeFave said.

The store also holds sessions for young readers from different communities, music classes and, for more than 25 years, has played host to a children’s writing class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for George Brown College students.

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For more than 20 years, the store has worked with Unison Health & Community Services, getting names of children from poorer families and encouraging customers to donate books that are gift-wrapped and delivered with an “angel” card prior to Christmas.

More recently, the store has taken part in a similar initiative called Kids Read North to provide books donated by customers to First Nations children in northern Ontario.