Strasbourg “book capital 2024”, but times are no less tough for independent bookstores. For a year, calls for help have been coming one after the other. La Tache Noire was the first to launch his kittyin September 2023, a few months later, in January, Obscurae announced its permanent closure. In September 2024, it was the turn of the Le Tigre bookstore to call for solidarity from its readers, followed closely by the launch of a jackpot by the Oiseau Rare, under tension since its beginnings. Between calls for donations and alternative solutions, independent businesses are trying to survive.
Since their launch, every month has been difficult
There is no shortage of independent bookstores at Quai des Bateliers, but few are doing well. At l’Oiseau Rare, during lunchtime, Monique expresses her concerns to Morgane Albisser, one of the two managers of the independent bookstore, which also has a café and gallery. Won over by their catalog with feminist and eco-friendly accents, the Strasbourg resident tried to make a donation to support the two sisters but she fears she may have gotten into the wrong kitty. She discovered the bookstore thanks to the two sisters’ call for help: “I find it a shame, it hurts my heart! I think it’s important to have independent bookstores“, she whispers.
Two and a half weeks after the launch of their prize pool on the “We participate” websitethey are still missing 9,000 euros to get off to a good start. Since they embarked on the adventure, on a whim, after visiting the premises, every end of the month has been difficult. Like many other independent businesses, they have suffered from confinement, inflation, low margins in the book industry and high transport costs, when it comes to ordering only a few copies. Every penny will helpaccording to Morgane Albisser: “part of it will be used to pay off debts, another to restock our shelves because we spend time sorting and selecting only what we manage to sell well, it’s a bit sad, and a whole part which would serve as a small secure base“.
Paola Guzzo
“In six years, this is the first time I’ve seen this”
A few issues away, the bookstore specializing in comics Le Tigre suffers the same factors, but also highlights the gloomy weather, a tense electoral period, and the Paris 2024 Games, elements not conducive to the purchase of books , according to the manager, Nicolas Deprez. If he had always done more or less well, last June and July, he did every day a quarter of its expected turnover : “we saw our cash flow disappear, in six years, this is the first time I’ve seen this“, he says, still stunned. Not very fond of the concept of calls for donations, he thought of another system to rebuild his cash flow: allowing his customers, often loyal, to credit their account.
The principle is simple: “you put 250 euros in your account, for example, as if you were buying gift vouchers“, he explains, then, the amount of each purchase made in the bookstore is deducted from this amount, “it allows me to have a cash advance to be able to recommend for the start of the school year, for Christmas and to bring me a little breather, even a big one“. An effective idea for the bookseller who explains that he is getting his head above water today: “It’s been a great call, a lot of support, a lot of people are coming, people we’ve never seen who went to Cultura before, so yes it’s really nice“.
The importance of a bookstore district
La Tache Noire is also out of the woods for the moment. The success of their fundraising allowed them to cover complicated liabilities, but the bookstore remains a “fragile” business, according to its manager, Eric Schultz, who assures that he also needs other bookstores to operate: “we need everyone to be there because it creates emulation, a journey, a neighborhood of bookstores, of readers. People will not only come for detective novels at my place, but also for general literature novels at L’Oiseau rare, comics at Nicolas at Le Tigre“, he explains.
“So it all comes together, it’s an economy, almost an ecology, of the book. We all hold each other“, he says, aware that he will perhaps, like all independent businesses, need support again one day. Concerning the question of Strasbourg being the world capital of books, Nicolas Deprez du Tigre supports him: he would have been interesting to involve city professionals more, for example by organizing a festival of independent bookstores. On the Rare Bird side, we dream of a subsidy from the town hall paid to support small structures. A gesture, in this favorable context, for these businesses, which are fighting to exist.
