Don’t look for new books. In the Au Bonheur du Livre bookstore, located in Chinon, there are none. All the works on sale have already experienced one or more lives before landing on the store’s shelves. Classics, children’s books, detective stories, mangas… You can find everything there, including recent books, at prices that defy the competition on the new market.
Enough to attract young customers. In recent years, adolescents and young adults have developed a passion for certain literary genres popularized on the social network TikTok. But the price of a new book (which can be around €20 per unit) can be a barrier for some, as Hélène Baudry, responsible for the bookstore, noted. “It’s already so complicated to put a book in the hands of young people”she whispers.
“Those who buy second-hand also buy new”
By launching her second-hand book store, the former teacher was keen to ” make accessible “ reading to everyone. “The history of a book is about passing from hand to hand”, she confides. Here, customers can discuss literature and take recommendations. A plus compared to buying used books online.
If his business, opened in November 2023, has found its audience in Chinon, it is because the second-hand book market is booming in France. According to a 2023 study conducted by the Ministry of Culture and the French Society of the Interests of Written Authors, one in five books purchased is second-hand.
The Le Murmure bookstore, in Chinon, sells some second-hand books, in addition to new works.
© Photo NR, Oriane Cuenoud
However, the study notes that few bookstores have developed second-hand sales alongside the sale of new books. In Chinon, the Le Murmure bookstore made a choice that went against the grain. At the back of the store, shelves have been specially dedicated to the sale of second-hand books. There are more than 70 references coming from donations from customers of the store: detective novels, autobiographical novels, cookbooks, etc.
“Giving another life to books”
“I found it interesting to offer different price ranges in the same place. And it was a way of giving another life to books”explains the manager, Audrey Gaimon. “The idea is that you can find what I sell new, that there is consistency with the identity of the bookstore. For example, I don’t take vintages (Guinness Book of Records type), Harlequins…”she smiled.
Its offer appeals to its customers. “Generally, these are complementary sales. Those who buy second-hand also buy new”, explains Audrey Gaimon. A finding corroborated by the study by the Ministry of Culture. According to the latter, nearly 25% of customers combine the purchase of new and used books.
The Le Murmure bookstore and the Au Bonheur du Livre bookstore will be represented at the Chinon book fair on April 27 and 28, 2024.
Soon a tax on second-hand books?
On April 12, Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to create a tax on second-hand books to better remunerate authors, publishers and translators.
A measure supported by the publishing sector but far from unanimous.
On France Culture, Vincent Montagne, president of the National Publishing Union (SNE), affirmed that this tax would only target large resellers of second-hand books. Sparing French second-hand booksellers or associations like Emmaüs. But the Ministry of Culture has not yet commented on the subject.
