Pages & Sips: Where Books Meet Coffee in Geneva 

I am sipping green tea on the terrace of a stylish coffee shop. The air smells of freshly baked scones, and around me I can hear snippets of conversation in English and Portuguese. We are in the middle of yet another heatwave, so an ice cream trolley has also made an appearance. While I wait at the counter for my scone (the smell is irresistible), I browse the shelves of carefully selected books in English, tempted by one title after another.

Inside, the space is beautifully furnished, with a warm and welcoming atmosphere that makes you want to linger. I could easily imagine spending an entire afternoon here.

But I am not in East London. I am in the heart of Geneva’s Vieille Ville, just opposite the house where Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born. And I am here to meet Emily Aubry (LGB, 2013), the owner and creator of this successful bookstore and café, Pages & Sips.

Emily has always loved books. Her passion was nurtured by her Australian mother, who would read entire books aloud to her when she was a child. Opening a bookstore was therefore a long-held dream. After graduating from EHL, Emily spent four years living and working in Australia, where she discovered the country’s strong coffee-shop culture: independent shops with a love for quality coffee where people come not only for coffee, but also to meet, work, read and simply spend time.

When she returned to Geneva, Emily began imagining a space that would bring these two passions together: coffee and English-language books. She also saw a gap in the city. As a student, she and her friends had struggled to find a trendy, welcoming place where they could spend hours, while the choice of English-language books in Geneva was relatively limited.

So, after Covid, Emily turned her vision into reality and opened Pages & Sips, a place designed, in her words, to make books cool again.

Emily personally selects the books and regularly refreshes the offer to keep it fresh. The shelves feature mainly fiction, beautifully produced editions of classics and a selection of children’s books. The concept is simple but effective: customers come in for a coffee and perhaps a scone, browse the shelves while they wait, and often leave with a book as well. For those looking for something specific, books can also be ordered.

The concept seems to have struck a chord, particularly with Geneva’s international community. Many students from Ecolint, as well as staff and parents, have become regular customers. Their presence is perhaps the best proof that Emily has tapped into a genuine need and that, despite predictions to the contrary, books are certainly not dead.

Being open seven days a week, which is still relatively unusual in Geneva, adds to the appeal. Pages & Sips has become more than a bookstore or a café: it is a place to meet, discover, read and linger.

The beautiful space can also be rented for private events, from birthdays to corporate gatherings. Looking ahead, Emily has plenty of ideas for the next chapter. She would like to organise poetry readings, launch her own book clubs and perhaps even host book signings. And who knows? There could eventually be a Tome 2 to the Pages & Sips story in the form of a franchise.

For now, though, there is something rather satisfying about simply sitting on the terrace, sipping a coffee or tea, eating a freshly baked scone and browsing the books. In a city where finding a place to linger can sometimes be a challenge, Emily may just have created exactly what Geneva was missing.