1,200 folks gathered in Strasbourg for the conferences of the nationwide bookstore – France Bleu

It’s the first one. Nationwide bookstore conferences being held in Strasbourg this yr, as a part of “Strasbourg, ebook capital of the world”. From this Sunday morning till Monday afternoon, 1,200 folks, primarily booksellers, have gathered on the Palais de la musique et des congrès to take part in workshops and talk about points within the sector. The sector is in disaster, explains Alexandra Charroin-Spangenberg, vice-president of the French bookstore union.

“Our turnover is getting decrease and decrease”

“After the post-covid improvement, and the opening of many bookstores, right this moment we see the issue of margins and profitability of our bookstores. On account of the rise within the worth of our prices, in comparison with a turnover that doesn’t change, so mechanically the result’s more and more weak and there’s no doubt that now we have to scale back the variety of workers. The hot button is within the door, we aren’t there but, however there’s hazard” famous the vp.

Confronted with this threat and the altering habits of readers, now we have to vary, confirms Jean-David Henninger, one of many managers of the unbiased bookstore “La Marge” in Haguenau: “That is why a gathering is so vital, as a result of we are able to discover options collectively. Above all, unbiased booksellers ought to have the ability to have a bit extra affect over massive publishing homes and distributors.“.

“I do not assume there are too many bookstores”

“We can’t negotiate the value, as a result of in France the value of the ebook is exclusive, nonetheless, we are able to generally negotiate our reductions, in entrance of the distributors. Above all, we generally is a drive for ideas in editorial phrases by telling them what works and what does not. What we need to see in bookstores. However I do not assume there are too many bookstores. There’s by no means sufficient. As well as, we regularly add to our provides” added the supervisor.

The town of Strasbourg is among the cities with the biggest variety of unbiased bookstores: at the very least 25, to this point. France has 3,700 unbiased bookstores, a determine that has been growing since 2019, in line with the Union of French Bookstores.

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