Action Pages sales representative Paul McLean (paulm@actionpages.ca) with two copies of the Skagit County, WA phone book.
Credit: Craig Huckerby
Action Pages, which is based in Washington state, is moving north of the border and starting phone books in eleven smaller centres in BC, Alberta and Northern Ontario.
Ontario's markets will include Kirkland Lake, Temiskaming, Timmins, Muskoka, North Bay, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie. Most of those will be distributed next Spring, including the Sault's book in early June.
Their first Canadian book is due to be released in just a few days in Abbotsford, BC.
LOCAL2 met with Action Pages vice president John Hein recently, who called the Action Pages "the most comprehensive directory anywhere".
"I was the top salesman for a company that was bought out by Yellowbook," said John. "Not wanting to work in that kind of big corporate environment, I started the Action Pages."
Hein says his small, family owned company prefers working in smaller markets, "so the book has a strong community feel."
The book will be similar in format to the Canpages, with larger typefaces, a postal code directory and a reverse number lookup. The books will be printed in Portland, Oregon and shipped here.
While many of Action Pages' competitors are moving more of their focus online, Hein is adamant that the printed phone book is still people's first choice for local business information, and its popularity is actually growing. He blames the lower usage of phone books in recent years on the recession, not on the growth of the Internet.
"Phone books aren't going anywhere," he said.
Do you still use printed phone books? Discuss below!
