Pages Books & Magazines of Toronto to close August 1

One of Canada's best known magazine and book stores, Pages on Queen Street West , is closing August 1, after 30 years, with no suggestion that it will locate elsewhere, according to a story in NOW magazine.

For many arts and culture titles, this is a major blow because the store has been very supportive of indy publishing; for people in Toronto and visitors to the city, it is the go-to place for titles hard to find elsewhere.

Its demise will be another in a long line of closures of independent magazine outlets across Canada. Recently, we've marked the passing of Magpie Magazine Gallery in Vancouver, Black Cat International in Sudbury, and Front Page News in Edmonton.

Pages first announced in December its lease was running out in February and it hadn't found an affordable place to move; it got a reprieve in a 6-month extension from its landlord, but that's up and there is no alternative in sight. Marc Glassman, Pages owner, is surprisingly phlegmatic about his plight, though he describes the situation as "dire". It's all about what market rents are on this gentrifying stretch of Queen Street.

Currently, Glassman figures he’s getting a good deal at $235,000 a year. But landlord Yoram Birenzweig, VP of Pinedale Properties, says the true market value at 256 Queen West is $100 a square foot – which my calculator tells me is $400,000 a year.

That’s not what he’s demanding Glassman pay, but even if they split the difference, it’s all too much for Pages.

Glassman keeps stressing his relationship with Birenzweig is genial and that he’s not getting screwed over.

“It’s life,” he says. “He appreciates what we’re doing, [but] for him, if you can, you should make more money,” he says.

[photo by Matthew Kim]