BlogTO had a post today on the impending demise of Pages bookstore at Queen St. W. and John.

The problem facing the bookstore is essentially this:

• The landlord wants to double the rent when the lease expires at the end of February
• Pages founder Marc Glassman has been looking for a new location for two years, to no avail
• "From Leslieville to Parkdale to St. Clair West, he's encountered landlords that he believes are asking way too much, and doesn't feel that even a reduced rent in any of those locations would necessarily make the business sustainable given their lower retail foot traffic compared to Queen and John"

If you can't stay and you can't move, you're in a bit of a conundrum.

For the record, I think Pages is a great bookstore. I buy books there and agree that it makes that part of downtown a lot hipper.

However, so what? It's not 1985 anymore. The best days of the University-Spadina section of Queen are far in the past.

Pinedale Properties has every right to capture as much of an economic return from that location as it can.

Bookstores are a low-margin business, and it would seem unreasonable to keep one in a prime location if it can't pay its own way.

I guess the gamble for Glassman is does he have a strong brand because of a great location, or did the location make the brand?

Alternatively, does Glassman try to migrate his store online and look for a different type of space that would function as a literary lounge rather than a retail area?

Business isn't my strong suit, but it seems to me that if your costs are escalating dramatically faster than your potential revenues, you might have to find a new model to slash your costs. Either that, or go out of business.