bookstores are booming

It’s a childhood dream that took shape, just a year ago, with this business with the promising name, Le Goût des Feuilles. In Taverny (Val-d’Oise), Manon Chantegay opened the only bookstore in the town. A high expectation, little competition, and customers at the rendezvous. “There is a real desire to rediscover human contact with customer advice”, says the bookseller. To build customer loyalty, the 30-year-old chose to set up a tea room in her shop.

A delicate balance

Booksellers who compete in imagination on the outskirts of metropolises, but also in rural and coastal areas. As in Agde (Hérault) where Corinne and Emmanuelle offer and advise their regulars on the latest novelties, even if for the moment they are not yet able to make a living from their business. “We haven’t had a salary for a year and a half, since the opening”says Corinne Calmels, bookseller at La Promenade du Phare. With the decline in purchasing power, the rise in the cost of paper and competition from e-commerce, the balance of these young bookstores is still fragile.