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Mike CrisolagoI am a 29-year old Toronto-based journalist and writer who has a passion for theatre, literature, history and baseball...
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Pages Bookstore (3), Queen Street West, used bookstoresOn Monday, August 31, 2009, MuchMusic will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Across the street, another Queen West institution will go out of business after 30 years.
Perched behind the sales counter at Pages Books and Magazines, Chris Reed repeatedly and politely answers the same questions from a parade of customers.
Yes, Pages is closing. No, it’s not re-opening anytime soon. No, it’s not because business is bad. The rent has doubled (from $235,000 to $400,000 annually).
Yes, it is sad.
“It’s been a real mixture of the maudlin and mercenary,” said Reed, who also helps head up the popular This Is Not A Reading Series. “There are a lot of people coming in feeling very [sombre] that this is their last Pages purchase and then there are others saying ‘Only 35 per cent off?’”
After months of speculation, negotiations, online petitions and letters to city councillors, the iconic Queen West landmark closes its doors for the final time today. Inside the store, Reed says the mood resembles that of a wake.
“It’s part of the grieving process,” Reed said. “This store has meant a lot to people who don’t feel like they’re part of mainstream culture [who] have found a real sense of solace and community here.”
Pages, perhaps the most beloved independent bookstore in Toronto, stood as a haven for counter-culture, artistic expression, social activism and small press literature. Now, the once hip, alternative strip of Queen Street that it helped to create has swallowed it whole.
“It’s ironic,” manager Dave Starr said. “It’s just our bad luck to be on this stretch of Queen because otherwise independents are doing really well.”
“When I was growing up, this part of Queen Street was the hub of activity for artists,” said Karen Tisch, a local arts manager. “In an artistic sense, there’s been more and more of a move away from this neighbourhood and its become more corporate with so many chain stores moving in.”
“It’s just sad,” said Jess, 24. “Slowly but surely Queen Street, with all of its character, is becoming like an outdoor Eaton Centre. And then this is the final hurrah of one of the last pieces of culture, pieces of what Queen Street was years ago.”
Online, nearly 2,500 Facebook users joined a petition to save Pages from closing – many leaving behind poignant tributes and reminiscences.
“Losing Pages would be like watching a river dry up,” Christopher Mills wrote.
“It’s a meeting place where I find friends browsing, buying, and rarely do I leave without what I came for or a book I didn’t know of before,” David Machen Woodword added.
At the store and online, many patrons have suggested a move to Parkdale, an area quickly becoming the artistic refuge that Queen West used to be.
“The simple answer is that we should just move [there], because that’s the new centre of hipster Toronto,” Reed said, “but the landlords there know what’s going on so we’ll see.”
As the day moves on, customers nearly outnumbered the remaining books in the store. Standing among the empty green and white shelves, Starr jokes about the idea of avoiding eviction by simply extending store hours.
“What if we just don’t close? I mean, technically it’s still the last day.”
Still, both Starr and Reed insist that, though they will be sad to turn the lock on the door for the final time Monday night, they have accepted the store’s fate.
“We’ve been ready for it since it was announced six weeks ago,” Reed said. “And it is very much like watching a whale die on the beach, you know? It takes a long time and its last gasps and you’re like, ‘Okay, we get it. Now you’re done.’ So in that regard, let’s give it a dignified end.”
Read the complete interview with Chris Reed, reflecting on Pages’ legacy and final days, at Mike’s blog, Bastard Type.