Giving a book as a gift for Christmas is often, if not always, a good idea. The region’s booksellers can say a lot about this, as they experience the busy holiday season like no other. This is the case for the Jonquière bookstore Marie-Laura, which has not taken the time to breathe much since the beginning of November.
“It’s a Christmas that started relatively early. From November 1st, we felt the excitement despite the absence of snow, so people were already coming to do their little shopping. There were fears of some slowdowns or disruptions due to the strike at Canada Post, given that books are shipped by ship, but there were no dramatic consequences from that. We are able to have books for our customers,” says Pascale Brisson-Lessard, who has worked as a bookseller for 10 years.
Children’s novels seem to be very popular with customers.
“It’s very varied, but we sell a lot of children’s literature, it’s always a sought-after gift for children from parents and grandparents. Otherwise, the Quebec novel is still popular. It’s really nice to see that our literature is constantly increasing in sales,” she admits.
Reading is still popular
Even in the era of electronic tablets and smartphones, Pascale Brisson-Lessard notes that reading is far from being a thing of the past. Feeling and flipping through the pages of a book is important for many, because it’s a whole different reading experience.
“Regarding sales, it is certain that we will never reach those that we made during the pandemic, in 2020-2021. However, we are able to do well, books are sought-after gifts. It’s certain that screens take up a lot of time among young people and families, but this year, in terms of sales, it’s a great Christmas for us. »
The importance of reading
The mission of booksellers: to make people love reading, even to people for whom reading is not their favorite leisure activity.
“Even for the person who doesn’t read on a daily basis or who would like to, we always find a way to give them something that will get them hooked on reading. What we want is to transmit this love and to continue to promote literature. We are mainly targeting young people, because even today, far too many children have never had books when they enter kindergarten,” she concludes.
