location: 256 Queen Street West
phone number: 416.598.1447
hours: Mon-Fri 9.30 am to 10 pm / Sat 10 am to 10 pm / Sun 11 am to 8 pm
payment methods: Cash, debit, Visa, MasterCard, Amex
directions: At the corner of Queen St. W. and John St. From TTC Subway get off at Osgoode station and walk west two blocks.

If Pages were a book, it would be the best kind – old and charmingly illustrated, maybe with a nice cover. When you get to the doors of Pages you’ll find their regular art installation window that faces Queen West an engaging one (everything from typewriters to crocheted genitalia have graced its glass). Like a good book, it’s a store you’ll keep returning to. Walk inside, leave your bags at the counter, and get lost among the buttercream walls and pine shelves that boast over thirty genres of general interest bliss.

While Pages does keep stock of some popular titles and genres (yes, all of the Harry Potter books), they shine in their trove of alternative offerings. Pages’ selections run the gamut from general poetry, history and literature sections to cultural theory, Eastern philosophy and gender studies. All sections are labeled with hand-painted signs, many with tables featuring new releases in that area of interest. Be sure to check out their small press shelves, and their really small press turning rack of cut and paste zines and self-published books.

While decidedly smaller than the book space, their magazine selection is equally impressive. Those looking for Canadian magazines like Shameless, Worn or Masthead will be pleased, along with anyone looking for titles small to big – from Toronto’s Spacing to Vogue Australia to People.

Even with a two-storey Chapters location less than two blocks away, it’s little surprise that Pages has thrived in the hip Queen West neighbourhood for nearly thirty years. With their regular This Is Not a Reading Series events, signed book series and a staff that will hold, ship, and locate books for you, the focus on the literary community in Pages is apparent, and arguably more valuable than an in-store Starbucks café.
Chantal Braganza