Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
You don't need to board a train to Toronto, or take a flight abroad, if you're in search of metropolitan flair. Uptown Waterloo has quietly become a neighbourhood with energy, design, and culture that has demonstrated that it can punch above its weight.
These days a great coffee shop doesn't depend on beans alone. Atmosphere, aesthetics, and a certain ineffable charm matter just as much as a flawless flat white. Across Morriston, Guelph, and Kitchener-Waterloo, a trio of newcomers is proving the point with spaces that feel as thoughtfully devised as the coffee itself: moody, atmospheric, and confidently unique.
This past May, TOQUE partnered with Kitchener's Kultiq Studio & Gallery for 'Birds of a Feather' – a vibrant, month-long pop-up art show in a stunning sunlit space at King and Water Streets in DTK.
‘It’s five o’clock somewhere,’ I chuckle, raising a dram of amber liquid to my lips. The spirit — peaty, smoky, divine — slides down with ease. I glance at the label: Lagavulin Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, aged sixteen years.
IT’S AN INCREDIBLE ACCOMPLISHMENT WHEN A RESTAURANT, BAR, OR CAFÉ REMAINS OPEN TO BUSINESS FOR OVER A DECADE, TWO DECADES, THREE DECADES. IT’S EVEN MORE ASTONISHING WHEN A TRIUMVIRATE OF ESTABLISHMENTS IN CLOSE PROXIMITY MANAGE TO DO IT – GAINING ALMOST MYTHICAL STATUS TOGETHER AS NEIGHBOURHOOD STAPLES AND HELPING TO DEFINE AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY. IN UPTOWN WATERLOO A THREESOME OF ‘GOLDEN GIRLS’ – ETHEL, JANE, AND THE PRINCESS – HAVE ACHIEVED JUST THIS FEAT. COME JOIN ME ON A WEE BAR HOPPING TOUR.
By the time I arrive at the bakery the sun has only just risen. All across the region bleary- eyed school children are being roused from their beds while an army of commuters fill thermoses with hot stuff before loading into vehicles and heading off to work. The day is just beginning. And yet at Roux Bakehouse – a cute bakery-meets-café-meets-grocer nestled into Kitchener’s vibrant Belmont Village strip – things have been rolling for hours.
AS SOMEONE WHO LOVES TO EXPLORE OUR REGION’S DOWNTOWNS (AND UPTOWNS), PREFERABLY WITH AN ARMLOAD OF PAPER BAGS AND A TURMERIC LATTE IN HAND, I’M ALWAYS ON THE HUNT FOR A BEAUTIFULLY-CURATED BRICKS AND MORTAR SHOP. YES, I KNOW THEY SELL SOAP ONLINE.
‘We’ve been standing here for only three minutes,’ I exclaim to my TOQUE Partner Cai in amazement, ‘and over twenty cyclists have ridden past.’ I watch as another couple bikes cruise by – all safe from cars and trucks in a well-marked protected bike lane.
Early last spring, on a bluebird morning in April, I found myself perched apprehensively alongside my older brother Matt and our friend Tom Enns on Whistler’s infamous ‘Peak Express’ chair – slowly ascending to the highest skiable point on the mountain. As someone who’s so afraid of heights that I once refused to re-shingle my backyard shed for fear of falling off, I was definitely out of my comfort zone.
Remember that scene from Ratatouille – the animated film about little Chef Remy who (despite all odds) pursues his passion for cooking in a fine dining restaurant in Paris – when villain food critic Anton Ego takes his first bite of Remy’s rendition of the classic French Provençal dish? How, after just one bite, the flavours of Remy’s rustic creation transport Ego back to the critic’s earliest childhood memories, of his mom making the young Anton a simple dish of ratatouille as an ultimate act of love?
Travel tends to sharpen taste. It introduces new ideas, uncovers unforeseen obsessions, and offers the occasional epiphany – nudging your sense of beauty and your grasp of craftsmanship in new directions. For Ryan LeClair, founder of Makoto Watch Company out of London, Ontario, it was travel – and specifically a trip to Japan – that transformed his infatuation with watch collecting into his initiation of a brand built on craft, restraint, and everyday practicality.
Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
In my line of work – as writer, photographer, editor, regional explorer – EDC isn't a trend. It's infrastructure. Most days I'm in motion: tracing backroads toward a brewhouse, mapping my way to an artist's studio, or sliding into the corner of a coffee shop where I turn field notes into final copy and RAW files into photographs that will pop on paper. My office is wherever I set my bag down. My tools make it possible.
Stratford – and, by extension, Perth County – lends itself to takeaway. A coffee to carry, a sandwich in hand, something sweet tucked alongside – then out into the streets for window shopping, into the theatres for a performance, or down to the riverbank for a nosh.
