In Chéniers en Creuse, the Dilisco company is expanding to store millions of books

In Creuse, Dilisco is on the rise. This company from the Albin Michel group, specializing in the distribution of books and school textbooks, has growth of 5% per year for five years. With increasing activity, it finds itself cramped within its walls. It is therefore in the process of building a new warehouse in Chéniers. It is a large building of 6,000 square meters and fifteen meters high to store books while waiting for them to go to bookstores or schools.

Ten million pounds

As big as a five-story buildingthis warehouse will relieve the current buildings, where space is starting to run out. The warehouse will accommodate 20,000 pallets of booksknowing that each contains 500 to 600 books. “That’s ten million pounds.”calculates David Gobert, the general director. “We need this new building: we are currently in just-in-time flow, with an occupancy rate of over 98%”explains Philippe Pinon, the logistics director.

The frame and walls are already built, only the roof remains to be put up. The work started in May must be completed in January 2025, before the construction of a new car park.

This expansion was necessary explains one of the oldest employees, Véronique Novais Da Silva. With the company for 35 years, she is operational and security coordinator: “The company has grown over time, we now distribute around a hundred publishers and we hope for more in the future. This expansion is an opportunity to welcome new customers. It’s a source of pride for the company and for me as well, to see that a Creuse company is almost as competitive as a distributor in Paris.”

Dilisco grows

For the moment, Dilisco has offices in Ivry in the Paris region and two sites in Creuse, in Bonnat and Chéniers. In Creuse, the company employs around a hundred employees. There may be hiring in the future. The market is doing wellespecially since the coronavirus epidemic: “Covid boosted the business and the market, after Covid the market increased by 15” specifies David Gobert. “We hope to be able to develop the employment pool, and allow the department to develop,” smiles Véronique Novais Da Silva.

Dilisco does not print the books, it receives them from publishers, stores them and sells them. The books stored in Chéniers are sent to the four corners of France in bookstores, schools, colleges, universities… These are mainly school, university and practical books, there is also literature and a little children’s literature.